Grants for children's museums

Name: Top 25 grants made to children's museums
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

244 children's museums received at least $18.4 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 543 grants made from 441 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,500. Of these 441 foundations, 91% made just a single grant to kids museums, and 1% made grants to four or more kids museums. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$18,413,828

Total grant dollars given to children's museums

543

Number of grants made annually to children's museums

441

Number of grantmakers funding children's museums

$1,500

Median grant size to children's museums

Foundations that support children's museums

Out of all grants made to children's museums, 72% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 94% of the dollar-value of grants to kids museums. Foundations funding kids museums also made grants to food banks, multiservice human service organizations, boys and girls clubs, youth development programs, and theaters.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	318
Medium	59
Large	64

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	20
Private	341
Corporate	39
Other	41

Grants made

Grants made to kids museums	Number of grantmakers
1	403
2-3	30
4-10	6
11+	2

Top 10 foundations supporting children's museums

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to kids museums	Number of grants made to kids museums	Median grant size
Carmax Foundation	VA	National	0.2%	15	$500
Westrock Foundation	GA	National	0.0%	11	$24
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.1%	10	$1,750
Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF)	WA	Metro	0.2%	10	$1,500
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	10	$500
Charity Partners Foundation	MA	National	0.2%	7	$12
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.0%	6	$750
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	5	$250
Charlottesville Area Community Foundation	VA	Metro	0.1%	3	$5,000
Lumina Foundation	IN	National	0.0%	3	$3,750

See all grantmaking to children's museums

Children's museums grantees

Children's museums with more than $5 million in total revenues received 95% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 27% of all kids museums.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	540
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	3

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$2,750
$100k-$500k	$1,050
$500k-$1M	$2,000
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$2,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	54
New York	35
Florida	34
Virginia	32
Other	388

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	29
Seattle	22
Providence	21
San Francisco	18
Other	417

Top 25 grants made to children's museums

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Walt Disney Family Museum (WDFM)	$7,361,417	FMV	Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation
Walt Disney Family Museum (WDFM)	$7,361,417	Education/arts	Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation
Tulsa Children's Museum	$2,510,064	General Operations	Tulsa Community Foundation
Stepping Stones Museum for Children	$5,000	Grant Recommended By Daf; Grant To Support Mutt-I-Grees Program in NC	New Canaan Community Foundation
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum	$5,000	General Support	NSF International (NSF)
Virginia Discovery Museum	$5,000	Sponsored Admission Program	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Virginia Discovery Museum	$5,000	General Purpose	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Virginia Discovery Museum	$5,000	Sponsored Admission Program	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Connecticut Childrens Museum	$5,000	Dedicated To Enhancing the Quality of Life of the Residents of the State of Connecticut	Trinity Health of New England Corporation
Pretend City Children's Museum	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	Craig and Gisele Barto Family Foundation
Omaha CHILDREN'S Museum	$5,000	Support	Gilbert C Swanson Foundation
Children's Museum of Denver	$5,000	To Support Program	The Colorado Trust
Marbles Kids Museum	$5,000	General Purpose	Triangle Community Foundation
Children's Museum of Tacoma	$5,000	More Than A Museum Campaign	Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF)
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis	$5,000	Local Community	Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis (JFGI)
San Antonio Children's Museum	$5,000	For General Operating Expenses	San Antonio Area Foundation Group Return
Bay Area Discovery Museum (BADM)	$5,000	Fort Baker	Arkansas Community Foundation
Chicago Children's Museum	$5,000	Unrestricted for General Use of Charity	John R Halligan Charitable Fund
Hands on Discovery Center	$5,000	Hands on Discovery Center	The Powell Foundation
Great Explorations Children's Museum	$5,000	Support Children and Youth Programs	Guardian Trust Foundation
Montshire Museum of Science	$5,000	Arts and Culture	Gulf Coast Community Foundation
Children's Museum	$5,000	"science Achievement for All" Program Delivery for K-8 Manchester Students	Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG)
Children's Museum	$5,000	Education	Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG)
The Children's Museum at Saratoga	$5,000	Making Connections	Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region
Marbles Kids Museum	$5,000	Help Kids Development	Yaoqing & Shouying Huang Family Foundation

See all grants to children's museums

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Children's museums" category for this page is determined by the "A52: Childrens Museums" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.