Minnesota · Nonprofit
WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $265,090 to it, the largest being Minnesota Humanities Center ($249,747). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $190k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $265k
- Net assets
- $80k
What Wheel and Cog Children's Museum does
Mission
Our goal is to inspire and educate the public through play, we provide engaging, interactive science, technology, engineering, art and math (steam)learning and imaginative play through hands on exhibits.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
We continue to offer more services to our members and nonmembers through the use of our expanded event space and through community outreach. We have continued to update and implement new exhibits through the use of state funding and grant income. In 2025, we held our operations in a triple space in our rental spot. We have three large rooms for the children to play. We continued to hold consistent private party rentals as well as community events that served as fundraisers for our museum. We continued to apply for grants and government funding to support our efforts. In 2025, we also received grant dollars to hold free fieldtrips for surrounding schools.
$178,338 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $178,338.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $67k to $116k (+72%).
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.
29% of WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
2018 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $42k → $30k.
2 of 3 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.
From the IRS filings of WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM’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
WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 88% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 90% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM has grown faster than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
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 Minnesota
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
100%
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 WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: 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 WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $265,090 to it, the largest being Minnesota Humanities Center ($249,747). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $265,090 in grants to WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM?
- Minnesota Humanities Center is the largest funder on record, with $249,747 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHEEL AND COG CHILDREN'S MUSEUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Wheel and Cog Children's Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 3 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