Kidscommons Columbus Community Children's Museum

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
352033887
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Columbus, IN, USA
Phone
8123783046
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$534,642
Expenses
$604,653
Assets
$3,850,294
Liabilities
$24,178

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WHITNEY HARTWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • STEPHANIE SEABORNE (PRESIDENT)
  • JEREMY PUSHOR (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • WHITNEY HARTWELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $81,744 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

A fun, safe, and inviting place, kidscommons nurtures exploration, collaboration, and creativity within all children and their caregivers. It is a place to learn about our community and our world.

What it reported doing in 2024

The museum is designed to be a place for children and their caregivers to learn about our world and community. The museum had over 43,412 children and adult visitors in 2024. Free admission was offered to approximately 1,186 children and adults in 2024. There were 38 school programs in 2024, reaching 2,790 children. The museum also offered 151 free public programs, serving 17,566 visitors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 61% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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 - 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: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.5%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 84.3%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 87.6%; rating input score 88; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -13.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.37; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.5%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.5% of revenue deployed · 84.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $510K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 16 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $249K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.