Kentucky · Nonprofit
THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC
THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,301,440 to it, the largest being JAMES GRAHAM BROWN FOUNDATION INC ($250,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.2M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What The Kentucky Science Center Inc does
Mission
Our mission is to inspire curiosity and empower individuals to explore and experiment with science in all its forms. We embrace a "do science" philosophy: play, tinker, collaborate, test, experiment, learn from mistakes, and try again. Kentucky science center provides a neutral space to engage in conversations about science, fostering curiosity and collaboration across generations and backgrounds.we believe science matters. It empowers individuals, strengthens communities, and fuels the workforce of tomorrow. Steam skills are essential for facing the challenges of the 21st century, and science literacy creates a foundation for lifelong learning and a better quality of life. By making science personal, participatory, and fun, kentucky science center ensures that curiosity has no limits.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibits & flagship - the kentucky science center was named the state science center of kentucky by the kentucky general assembly in 2002 and actively serves individuals throughout the commonwealth and indiana. In 2025, kentucky science center impacted 100% of kentucky counties and 93% of indiana counties. It is the largest hands-on science center in kentucky with interactive exhibits and activity stations, a large-format theater experience with a screen that extends four stories high, teaching laboratories, on- and off-site educational programs, pulse of surgery (open heart surgery) program, and distance learning capabilities. The kentucky science center features interactive exhibits and engaging programs that benefit families, adults, schools, and businesses.
$3,030,770 spent$2,204,531 earned by the program58% of program spendingOnsite education - kentucky science center serves students and teachers from across kentucky and indiana through school field trips, where teachers can select labs, classes, movies from the science center library, and pre- and post-visit activities that not only enhance their students' experience but satisfy statewide curriculum standards. Daily operations and exhibits at the flagship location in louisville include changing facilitated walk-up science experiences, and themed activities and demonstrations. School's out science camps run all summer long, and on days that the jefferson country public school system is out of class, providing enriching out-of-school experiences upon which parents can rely. In addition, family movie events, themed science celebration weekends, and events specifically for adults represent the flagship facility throughout the year. These powerful opportunities bring science to life in real, exciting and non-formal ways.
$1,515,525 spent$1,019,983 earned by the program29% of program spendingOffsite education - our science travels to you programs include distance learning, assembly programs, community or school-wide science festivals, hands-on class sessions, after-school science clubs and more. Additionally, science in play2go, the mobile version of kentucky science center's progressive next-generation learning experience, empowers children and adults to learn together through the power of play, improving kindergarten readiness. Science in play2go travels to kentucky libraries, serving 3-month residencies that give families throughout the commonwealth the chance to experience high quality science literacy experiences in their local communities.
$674,367 spent$471,822 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,220,662.
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 2020 to 2021, from $5.2M to $6.9M (+33%).
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 18% · 2018 16% · 2019 16% · 2020 23% · 2021 48% · 2022 44% · 2023 28% · 2024 21% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
29% of THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Michael Norman
President & CEO
Board chair
Giavonne Rondo
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $118k → $166k.
5 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $482k from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Community Foundation of Louisville Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 funders by total. 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 KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
31% 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 KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 34% · 2019 45% · 2020 63% · 2021 64% · 2022 52% · 2023 30% — diversifying over time.
“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
24% of THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
71% of THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC's grant income comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $76k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. 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 KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC is better cushioned than half 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
Government funding THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $200k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$200k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE 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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE 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 KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC?
- THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,301,440 to it, the largest being JAMES GRAHAM BROWN FOUNDATION INC ($250,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $1,301,440 in grants to THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC?
- JAMES GRAHAM BROWN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE KENTUCKY SCIENCE CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 37 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