Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Oct 1934.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
76 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
45 people listed on the 990; $1.3M paid to officers and key staff.
Carole Charnow’s $271K as President/CEO is at the 34th percentile of top reported officer pay among 749 $10–100M arts & culture nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carole Charnow | $270,581 | $257,392 | $260,375 | $246,416 | $207,619 | $236,942 |
| Michael Travis | $202,881 | $199,041 | $197,061 | $196,094 | $174,524 | — |
| Amy Auerbach | $184,415 | $173,234 | $170,985 | $165,944 | $137,403 | $148,078 |
| Melissa Higgins | $141,676 | $133,602 | $121,039 | $105,300 | — | — |
| Charlayne Murrell-Smith | $139,732 | $130,030 | $127,048 | $122,465 | $100,264 | $108,467 |
| Leslie Swartz | — | — | $109,829 | $129,417 | — | — |
| Jeri Appier - Controller | $126,697 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Debbie Hilton-Creek | — | — | — | — | $121,384 | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Provides joyful discovery experiences to nurture children's creativity and lifelong learning.
Questions for The Childrens Museum
Your first name shows with your question. The Childrens Museum answers here, for everyone.
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Visitor experiencethe goal of visitor experience is to provide high quality experiences for our large audience of diverse visitors, whether they come in as school or community groups, or families.
Education programsthe goal of education programs is to develop and implement interactive experiences that enhance the museum's exhibits for children and adults in the areas of stem and steam, visual and performing arts, health and wellness, cultures, early childhood development and learning, and community engagement.
Exhibitionsthe goal of exhibitions is to develop, design and produce innovatively awesome experiences that engage children and adults in meaningful activities that inspire creativity, curiosity, experimentation, problem solving, and collaboration.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $14.9M | $14.4M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $20.3M | $28.8M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $27.3M | $25.9M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $64.9M | $75.7M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $10.9M | $10.9M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $53.9M | $64.8M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $683K | $574K | $110K | |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $4.5M | $3.8M | $158K | $504K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $116K | $71K | $29K | $16K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $417K | $363K | $24K | $29K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $390K | $296K | $51K | $43K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $3K | $3K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $49K | $49K | ||
| Lobbying feesLn 11d | $90K | $90K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $3K | $3K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $1.2M | $1.2M | $48K | $9K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $107K | $107K | $157 | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $227K | $134K | $62K | $31K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $412K | $163K | $240K | $8K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $1.2M | $937K | $258K | $16K |
| TravelLn 17 | $88K | $55K | $19K | $14K |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $1.7M | $1.6M | $124K | $17K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $126K | $113K | $11K | $2K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $1.1M | $653K | $397K | $17K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $11K | $6K | $5K | $423 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $12.5M | $9.5M | $2.1M | $907K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $22.1M | $12.5M | $9.6M | $64.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $11.9M | $10.3M | $1.6M | $53.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $9.5M | $9.6M | −$102K | $50.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $15.5M | $8.4M | $7.1M | $48.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $9.2M | $7.8M | $1.5M | $46.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $7.3M | $10.0M | −$2.7M | $41.0M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $22,077,913 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 30 of 30 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $22,077,913 across 12 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $12,487,535 across 19 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $75,690,406 assets, 20 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $64,761,011 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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