Delaware Museum of Nature & Science

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
510083535
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Wilmington, DE, USA
Phone
3026589111
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,962,377
Expenses
$4,218,911
Assets
$30,238,501
Liabilities
$318,216

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EDA ROSS MONTGOMERY PHD (PRESIDENT)
  • RICHARD F CAIRNS (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MANDY SANTIAGO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BEG 4/25)

Highest reported compensation

  • MANDY SANTIAGO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BEG 4/25): $117,451 total reported compensation
  • MICHELE HARVEY (CFO AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR): $108,388 total reported compensation
  • WILLIAM H SPRUANCE (ED THRU 3/25 & DIR EMER. THRU 12/25): $84,036 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The museum is an educational corporation formed to ignite a life-long passion for exploring, discovering, and valuing nature and science.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, the Delaware museum of nature and science welcomed 82,535 guests: 57% from general, member, reciprocal and discounted admission; 21% from formal education programs including school tours, scouts and camps; 19% from special events, birthday parties and rentals; 3% from miscellaneous visition. The galleries included the regional journey gallery, the alison k. Bradford global journal gallery, the ellice and rosa mcdonald fondation paleozone, hands on experiences in the pnc grow-up great nature nook and the bill and denise spence discovery gallery, and the ederic exhibition hall, which hosted two traveling exhibits.

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 97% 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

STRONG - 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 filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.17; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $117K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 35 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 18/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.