Childrens Museum Corporation of Rutherford County Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621273308
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Murfreesboro, TN, USA
Phone
6158902300
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's Museums

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,048,009
Expenses
$2,388,603
Assets
$5,477,438
Liabilities
$330,820

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELISABETH HARPER ROOD (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • GARTH BENTLEY (PRESIDENT)
  • SHARON PERTILLER (PRESIDENT ELECT)
  • TARA MACDOUGALL (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • TARA MACDOUGALL (CEO): $144,150 total reported compensation
  • VERONICA BOSNAK (CFO): $115,900 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Discovery center at murfree spring is a hands-on museum and nature center dedicated to inspiring and educating children and strengthening families through creative play.

What it reported doing in 2025

Discovery center at murfree spring is a hands-on children's museum and nature center with a mission to engage curious minds to fuel the future. Dc provides the public with a wide variety of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math exhibits and programs. Program offerings include on-site field trips, mobile labs, six annual free cultural events, monthly special events, and weekly public programs. Dc serves approximately 133,088 visitors in rutherford county and middle Tennessee and another 8,971 with our offsite programming.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 64.4%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -16.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.29; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 64.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $144K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 57/100.