The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Legal name: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 350867985
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Phone
- 317-334-4000
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $84,385,831
- Expenses
- $48,831,252
- Assets
- $502,915,800
- Liabilities
- $53,546,690
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
40 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jessica Dunn (Immediate Past President)
- Jennifer Pace Robinson (President and CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Jennifer Pace Robinson (President and CEO): $664,086 total reported compensation
- Kathy Mathena (COO\CIO): $341,964 total reported compensation
- Ella Frank (Chief Financial Officer): $288,964 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To ignite joy, wonder, and curiosity by creating powerful learning experiences for children and adults.
What it reported doing in 2024
Collections - the children's museum of indianapolis boasts a collection of more than 130,000 artifacts and specimens. The collection is a storehouse of ideas and concepts; not only are these objects pathways to the thinking that have shaped our collective past, but also to the new connections and discoveries yet unborn in the minds of young visitors. Since its founding in 1925, the museum has nurtured the growth of its collection which is divided into three domains: natural world domain: collections contain many real specimens, from dinosaur eggs and precious gems to sausage tree pods. Many interesting objects from around the world illustrate natural and physical science concepts. (continued in schedule o)
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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 83
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.9%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 70.2%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: 42.1%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.3; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 59.9% of revenue deployed · 70.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 33 of 33 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $34.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $664K · 40 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.1M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.