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
77 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
41 people listed on the 990-T; $1.1M 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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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.
Visitor programsthe goal of visitor programs is to provide high quality experiences for our large audience of diverse visitors, whether they come in as school or community groups, or families.
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 FY2022 990-T, line by line.
Download 990
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $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 Viewing | $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
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2022 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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