San Antonio Children's Museum
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 742659746
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- San Antonio, TX, USA
- Phone
- 2102124453
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,939,628
- Expenses
- $10,559,320
- Assets
- $52,619,114
- Liabilities
- $5,435,280
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIEL MENELLY (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- DANIEL MENELLY (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $267,489 total reported compensation
- MEREDITH DOBY (CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER): $167,112 total reported compensation
- ELIZABETH PROCTOR (VP DEVELOPMENT): $160,662 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through joyful learning and discovery, the doseum experience grows curious minds, connects families, and transforms communities.
What it reported doing in 2025
The doseum grows curious minds, connects families and transforms communities with interactive exhibits, programming and special events that invite discovery, spark interest and develop positive attitudes toward learning across critical content areas. See schedule o for continuation.
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
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: -18.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.98; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.6%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $267K · 24 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $336K reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.