Illinois · Nonprofit
TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION
TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $928,234 to it, the largest being THE AYCO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($500,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $928k
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Town of Normal Children's Discovery Museum Foundation does
Mission
The purpose of the children's discovery museum foundation is to support the mission and vision of the children's discovery museum to raise and expend funds for the benefit of the museum, and to advocate on behald of the museum in the community at large.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
The children's discovery museum foundation helped pay for exhibit construction.
$2,733,930 spentof which $2,733,930 as grants92% of program spendingThe children's discovery museum foundation helped pay for museum operations and specific program support.
$201,427 spentof which $201,427 as grants7% of program spendingOther
$27,715 spentof which $27,715 as grants1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,963,072.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $627k to $4.1M (+556%).
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: 2022 63% · 2023 78% · 2024 98% · 2025 92% · 2026 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 4 of the last 7 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.
Board chair
Paul Scharnett
Chair
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $10k → $8k.
6 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 79% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION’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
TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
84% 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 TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 100% · 2019 78% · 2020 27% · 2021 58% · 2022 39% · 2023 62% — 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
42% of TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
79% of TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $194k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $735k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 36 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 36 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2026
Government funding TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.4M
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 TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION: 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 TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $928,234 to it, the largest being THE AYCO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($500,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $928,234 in grants to TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION?
- THE AYCO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TOWN OF NORMAL CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2026 (financials across 2020–2026), and the filings of 18 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