Children's Discovery Museum
Legal name: Childrens Discovery Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 812875557
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2017–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Kelso, WA, US
- Phone
- 360-353-9682
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Museum, Museum Activities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $62,915
- Expenses
- $61,145
- Assets
- $84,080
- Liabilities
- $2,003
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Christine Randall (President)
- Erin Harnish (President)
- Michelle Grendahl-Thorp (Interim Executive director)
- Seth McNally (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Christine Randall (President)
- Erin Harnish (President)
- Elizabeth Berndt (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Children's Discovery Museum will provide a fun and safe environment to encourage kids and families to learn, engage, and have imaginative and interactive play together.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, the Children's Discovery Museum (CDM) provided invaluable, free services to the community, welcoming over 9000 visitors through its doors. Among these, 25% were first-time guests, reflecting the museum's growing impact and outreach. To meet increasing demand and broaden accessibility, CDM expanded its offerings and extended its operating hours, allowing more families to take advantage of the museum's resources. This growth enabled CDM to provide even more diverse programming and engaging educational experiences, all accessible without financial barriers. The free admission model ensures every child and family, regardless of income, can benefit from hands-on exhibits, interactive learning, and community-focused events, highlighting the museum's dedication to inclusivity and community enrichment. As families continue to face the social and emotional impacts of COVID-19, CDM's expanded hours and enhanced programs create a supportive space for children to reconnect, learn, and heal through play. By fostering a safe and joyful environment, the museum plays a critical role in helping children rebuild essential social skills, resilience, and confidence, supporting the community's recovery and growth in the post-pandemic landscape.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.8%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 69.7%; rating input score 70
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.38; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 67.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 67.8% of revenue deployed · 69.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $43K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.