Toledo Science Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 311337258
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Toledo, OH, USA
- Phone
- 4192442674
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Science and Technology Museums
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,619,446
- Expenses
- $5,212,709
- Assets
- $7,072,594
- Liabilities
- $1,262,355
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
35 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LORI HAUSER (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- LORI HAUSER (CEO): $162,492 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Empower everyone to explore the sciences through interactive exhibits and educational programming.
What it reported doing in 2024
Imagination station is a science center in toledo, Ohio that features hundreds of hands-on exhibits throughout multiple learning worlds. It features premier attractions, a traveling exhibition space, and various live science demonstrations. The science center explores the topics of engineering, energy, water, perception, agriculture, pre-k development and health. This fiscal year, the science center welcomed over 175,000 visitors. As a service to the community, imagination station offers free lucas county kids every saturday, free veterans on veterans day, free moms on mother's day, free dads on father's day and free teachers every day. We also offer discounts to active military personnel and lucas county residents and schools.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.3%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.36; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.3% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $4.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 35 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 44/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.