Wisconsin · Nonprofit
YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC
YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,094,006 to it, the largest being Daniel C Ferguson Charitable Trust ($1,511,115). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.4M
- Funders on record
- 48
- Grants received
- $8.1M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Yerkes Future Foundation Inc does
Mission
Yerkes observatory advances humankind's understanding of the universe and our place within it, igniting curiosity, facilitating exploration and nurturing a deep sense of connection with our planet and each other.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Yerkes observatory advances humankind's understanding of the universe and our place within it, igniting curiosity, facilitating exploration and nurturing a deep sense of connection with our planet and each other. We doubled the opportunities for k-12 classrooms to visit the observatory & held our first educator professional development sessions. We started the exploring the night sky tours which allows members of the public to observe through the world's largest refracting telescope and we held four open house events that all sold out, with our largest one during the april 2024 solar eclipse.
$1,035,900 spent$91,845 earned by the program51% of program spendingScience - in 2024, we hosted our second undergraduate summer research program which welcomed 3 students from around the country. We also welcomed one high school and one middle school intern to work on various science projects with staff. We hired an observing assistant and a project scientist who has begun modifications and restoration for the 24 and 41" reflecting telescopes. We also hosted several successful and productive research and professional workshops at yerkes observatory, including the galactic science with the nancy grace roman space telescope workshop in june 2024.
$611,670 spent$25,773 earned by the program30% of program spendingTours - yerkes future foundation offers tours and events, astronomy programs for all ages, and cultural and science programming to provide enrichment that connects science, landscape and culture in order to provide educational opportunities for the public.
$381,204 spent$408,747 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,028,774.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2019 to 2020, from $175k to $6.4M (+3568%).
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.
84% of YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
Dennis Kois
Executive director
Board chair
Dianna Colman
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $50k → $1.3M.
12 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 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
YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION 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
35% 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 YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 50% · 2020 52% · 2021 33% · 2022 30% · 2023 39% — 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
58% of YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 48% 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
YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% 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 YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION 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 YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC?
- YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,094,006 to it, the largest being Daniel C Ferguson Charitable Trust ($1,511,115). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $8,094,006 in grants to YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC?
- Daniel C Ferguson Charitable Trust is the largest funder on record, with $1,511,115 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YERKES FUTURE FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Yerkes Future →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 48 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing