Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,760,932 to it, the largest being THE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION ($439,656). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2023
- $961k
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $7.0M
What Wagner Free Institute of Science does
Mission
The institute is dedicated to providing free public education in science. A national historic landmark, it is also committed to the preservation of its historic building, collections and to providing education in the history and development of science.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Programs
The library and archives reflect the institutional mission to provide free science education to the public. The library (45,000 volumes) includes material printed between the 17th and early 20th-centuries on the natural and physical sciences as well as engineering and metallurgy. Materials in the archives include the family, personal, and business papers of william wagner (1796-1885), records of the institute's founding and early years, and records pertaining to the free library of philadelphia's first branch (1890-1962). The manuscript collections contain the working papers and correspondence of notable scientists. The library and archives also encompass maps, prints, photographs, drawings, and 4,500 glass lantern slides that were used to illustrate the courses. The library and archives are open to researchers and serve an international audience of students, scholars and the public.
$175,134 spent27% of program spendingThe Wagner Free Institute of Science is located in its original 19th century building, which was designated a national historic landmark in 1990. Its collections include a museum of than 100,000 natural history specimens, including many scientifically and historically important fossils, minerals and zoological specimens. Artifact collections include scientific instruments, demonstration equipment, anthropological materials, and the historic furnishings and fixtures. The museum is open to visitors free of charge, year-round. The wagner also offers guided tours and programming focused on the collections. The museum also serves as a resource for students, scholars and the public. In 2023, museum visitors came from 45 states and 13 countries.
$169,142 spent27% of program spendingEducation programs include free courses, lectures, and special programs on-site and at locations around the city for adults and children. Programs are available to the public at large free of charge and benefit thousands of children and adults annually. In 2023, the wagner served 22,500 people both in-person and online though its education, museum and library programs. This includes field trips and lessons for schools and other groups; geokids, an award-winning hands-on science program serving 600 children annually at five north philadelphia elementary schools and snap: science, nature and art in philadelphia, an extension of geokids that serves 400 middle school children at the same schools. Snap integrate science learning with art. Geokids links, a partnership with a local university, integrates science faculty and graduate and undergraduate students into geokids implementation, development and evaluation.
$288,684 spent45% of program spendingThe wagner has ongoing capital projects designed to preserve its landmark building, protect the collections and enhance service to the public. It is currently preparing for an upgrade to the hvac system of the library wing that will improve environmental conditions for the library and archives, and increase energy efficiency and sustainability for the entire institution.
$4,180 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $637,140.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $8.0M to $7.2M (−9%).
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 4% · 2018 3% · 2019 6% · 2020 21% · 2021 20% · 2022 8% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $108k → $171k.
5 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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
WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
39% 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 WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 32% · 2019 20% · 2020 34% · 2021 24% · 2022 30% · 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
77% of WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 80% 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
52% of WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $530k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Government funding WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $350k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$350k
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 WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% 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 WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE: 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 WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE?
- WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,760,932 to it, the largest being THE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION ($439,656). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $1,760,932 in grants to WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE?
- THE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $439,656 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Wagner Free Institute of Science →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), and the filings of 45 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