San Diego Children's Discovery Museum

What it reported doing in 2024

For over two decades, sdcdm has shared our museum space with all children and families, many of whom would have little to no access to supplemental educational enrichment experiences without us. The museum's 13,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor vital guided play areas, hands-on learning activities, and twice- daily educational programs create an ideal learning environment for developing and reinforcing children's early foundational fluencies and stem learning. Our mobile museum addresses disparities of equitable learning opportunities by bringing supplemental enrichment opportunities to young children where they are. The program builds over 50 foundational fluencies and helps develop children's cognitive skills, social abilities, and physical well-being from the earliest childhood years when it matters the most. Mobile workshops focus on stem and social-emotional skills and align with preschool learning foundations. Research shows that children who engage in high-quality early childhood educational enrichment activities like those offered by sdcdm are more likely to achieve positive outcomes in the long run. Sdcdm educational programs aim to help close the achievement gap, prepare toddlers for kindergarten, remove transportation barriers, and improve health outcomes for all participating children.over the years, sdcdm has collected testimonials, feedback, and surveys from the community which cite that our fun, safe, and inclusive museum has been like a second home for local families. Respondents frequently mention that they are very impressed with our staff and feel strongly that sdcdm is highly accessible, focused on cooperative play, and contributes to early skills and brain development. Teachers often express their gratitude for sdcdm educational programs and note that without us, students at their schools would not receive access to much-needed stem resources and supplemental educational experiences.during an already challenging time where families have even fewer resources than ever and are at greater risk of marginalization, sdcdm seeks to bridge the gap in educational attainment and access by providing students with high-quality, hands-on early stem enrichment experiences.this past fiscal year, the museum served 99,411 children and families onsite and 12,553 children through our mobile children's museum. We provided access for all admission to 25,262 families in need (valued at $306,736), hosted 40 onsite special events, including fun animal friday, baby storytimes, space night, nature night, science & engineering night and kpbs kids' events. We distributed 10,300 stem activity kits. Over 2,000,000 people were reached through digital platforms, social media, and website interactions. The museum replaced the onsite watertable exhibit and added a mobile earthquake table. Facility improvements included remodeling mens, womens, and family restrooms, repainting the exterior of the building, adding new name signage. Additional accomplishments in the past fiscal year include:- renaming and rebranding the museum as children's museum of discovery and implementing the new logo-celebrating the 25th year anniversary of the museum through an anniversary/ birthday party and a financial campaign to raise funds to support the access for all initiative.-the museum taught two, 8-week after-school series of engineering workshops resulting in 5,760 interactions and teaching to 320 unique students. -2,688 students served through onsite field trips-hosted 1,625 sensory friendly visitors-300 interns and volunteers provided 3,434 hours of volunteer service

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 76.1%; rating input score 76
• Program expense ratio: 73.4%; rating input score 73
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -2.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings