Alabama · Nonprofit
THE EXPLORE CENTER INC
THE EXPLORE CENTER INC (Alabama) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,468,126 to it, the largest being INFIRMARY FOUNDATION INC ($700,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $4.4M
What The Explore Center Inc does
Mission
Education of youth and adults in science and the arts
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization enhances the understanding of children and adults of the natural environment the physical sciences and the arts through the operation of both a hands on museum and a restored 1855 antebellum home
$2,333,797 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,333,797.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $2.4M to $3.4M (+41%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 14% · 2018 11% · 2019 10% · 2020 14% · 2021 30% · 2022 28% · 2023 17% · 2024 20% · 2025 37%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of THE EXPLORE CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Don Comeaux
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $200k → $128k.
From the IRS filings of THE EXPLORE CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
THE EXPLORE CENTER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
57% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund THE EXPLORE CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 87% · 2019 63% · 2020 38% · 2021 60% · 2022 50% · 2023 78% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
29% of THE EXPLORE CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
97% of THE EXPLORE CENTER INC's grant income comes from Alabama funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THE EXPLORE CENTER INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE EXPLORE CENTER INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Alabama
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
58%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE EXPLORE CENTER INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE EXPLORE CENTER INC?
- THE EXPLORE CENTER INC (Alabama) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,468,126 to it, the largest being INFIRMARY FOUNDATION INC ($700,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE EXPLORE CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,468,126 in grants to THE EXPLORE CENTER INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE EXPLORE CENTER INC?
- INFIRMARY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $700,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE EXPLORE CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Alabama. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Explore Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 11 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing