Association of Children's Museums Inc
Arlington, VA · EIN 95-4087882. Reported 55 grants totalling $964,661 to 53 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Association of Children's Museums Inc, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A52C) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 5% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $15,900. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $16,550; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $40,781. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Childrens Museum | Boston, MA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Brooklyn Childrens Museum Corp | Brooklyn, NY | $45,320 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Madison Childrens Museum Inc | Madison, WI | $40,781 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Austin Childrens Museum | Austin, TX | $30,060 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Childrens Discovery Center | Honolulu, HI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Childrens Museum Inc | Houston, TX | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Flint Childrens Museum | Flint, MI | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Magic House | Saint Louis, MO | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Minnesota Childrens Museum | Saint Paul, MN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| San Jose Childrens Discovery Museum | San Jose, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Discovery Place Inc | Charlotte, NC | $18,050 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wow Childrens Museum World of Wonder Ltd | Lafayette, CO | $18,050 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Above and Beyond Corporation | Sheboygan, WI | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Childrens Museum of Jacksonville | Jacksonville, NC | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fairbanks Childrens Museum | Fairbanks, AK | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kids Discovery Station | Merced, CA | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Santa Cruz Childrens Museum of Discovery | Capitola, CA | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Virgin Islands Childrens Museum | St Thomas, VI | $16,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chesapeake Childrens Museum Inc | Annapolis, MD | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Childrens Discovery Museum of Cape Cod Inc | Mashpee, MA | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Childrens Museum of Green Bay Inc | Green Bay, WI | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Duluth Childrens Museum Inc | Duluth, MN | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| North Country Childrens Museum | Potsdam, NY | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sangre De Cristo Arts & Conference Center Inc | Pueblo, CO | $16,150 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Childrens Museum at Saratoga | Saratoga Springs, NY | $15,950 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Terre Haute Childrens Museum Inc | Terre Haute, IN | $15,950 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wise Wonders Childrens Museum Inc | Billings, MT | $15,950 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kids Discovery Museum | Bainbridge Is, WA | $15,900 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Santa Fe Childrens Museum Inc | Santa Fe, NM | $15,900 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childrens Museum of Illinois | Decatur, IL | $15,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Peoria Playhouse Children's Museum (county of Peoria) | Peoria, IL | $15,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wonderfeet Kids Museum | Rutland, VT | $15,550 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ann Arbor Hands on Museum | Ann Arbor, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Blacksburg Childrens Museum | Christiansburg, VA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Discovery Center of the Southern Tier | Binghamton, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Discovery Museums Inc | Acton, MA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kearney Area Childrens Museum | Kearney, NE | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Kidsplay Childrens Museum Inc | Torrington, CT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Montshire Museum of Science | Norwich, VT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Museum of the Southwest | Midland, TX | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sacramento Childrens Museum | Rancho Cordova, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Rapides Exploratory Education House Inc | Alexandria, LA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Westchester Childrens Museum | Rye, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childrens Museum of Rochester Inc | Rochester, MN | $11,400 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Amelia Park Childrens Museum Inc | Westfield, MA | $10,750 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childrens Museum of Richmond | Richmond, VA | $10,750 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Adventure Childrens Museum | Eugene, OR | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childrens Museum of South Dakota | Brookings, SD | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Mississippi Childrens Museum | Jackson, MS | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Building for Kids Inc | Appleton, WI | $10,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Childrens Creativity Museum | San Francisco, CA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Discovery Childrens Museum | Las Vegas, NV | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wonderscope Inc | Kansas City, MO | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
2 of 53 (4%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Madison Childrens Museum
EXHIBIT COLLATERAL/DESIGN TEAM PARTICIPATION PAYMENTS - Boston Children's Museum
FFACES CONCEPTUAL DESIGN/EXHIBIT COLLATERAL PAYMENTS - Children's Museum of Houston
FFACES/EXHIBIT COLLATERAL PAYMENTS - Flint Children's Museum
DESIGN TEAM PARTICIPATION PAYMENTS - Wow Children's Museum
MEOWSEUM DISCOVERY DAYS, SIMONS FOUNDATION MATH LITERACY COHORT PARTICIPATION - Discovery Place
MEOWSEUM PARTICIPATION, SIMONS FOUNDATION MATH LITERACY COHORT PARTICIPATION
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 52 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 10 | $321,161 | $30,000 |
| 2021 | 5 | $75,000 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 14 | $181,700 | $13,200 |
| 2023 | 1 | $15,000 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 25 | $371,800 | $16,150 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
11% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $15,900 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Association of Children's Museums Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 25 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 2550 S Clark Street 600, Arlington, VA, 22202.
EIN 95-4087882 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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