EIN 36-6210902

The Adler Planetarium

IRS 501(c) type
501(c)(3)
Num. employees
185
Year formed
1930
Most recent tax filings
2023-06-01
Description
The Adler Planetarium ('Adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to The universe and each other under The sky we all share. It aspires to be The world's premier center for engaging in astronomy and space science. Adler's mission is to connect people to The universe and each other under The sky we all share. The Adler Planetarium's mission is to inspire exploration and understanding of our universe.
Total revenues
$18,774,196
2023
Total expenses
$16,032,773
2023
Total assets
$67,133,417
2023
Num. employees
185
2023

Program areas at The Adler Planetarium

Whether The Adler Planetarium is introducing a guest to The ring nebula, a neighborhood school to a community partner, a research team to a network of citizen scientists, or one staff member to another, The museum's focus on meaningful connections dates back nearly a century. The museum typically hosts approximately a half a million visitors each year and reaches millions more through youth steam programs, neighborhood skywatching events, people-powered research, and other outreach efforts. Today, The Adler is also bringing our unique approach - scientific exploration rooted in community and connection - to guests from around The world who can enjoy The digital Adler for their own homes, libraries, schools or offices. With Adler's support, people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities gain The confidence to explore their universe together and return to their communities ready to think critically and creatively about any challenge that comes their way. In 2022, The physical museum was reopened to The public on march 4, after a 2-year building closure due to covid. The museum has a new online ticketing platform, and a reinvented operating model that has significantly improved per capita ticket revenue. This includes a new schedule of public hours every wednesday evening for our exhibitions, sky shows, and telescope viewing. New content offerings, like The temporary display of a full-size replica of The mars perseverance rover, drove good attendance. New, school-group-only days are providing meaningful experiences at The museum for educators and their students. Adler is also continuing its engagement in online spaces, welcoming millions of people around The world into Adler experiences, through storytelling and engaging directly in science and discovery. Through zooniverse.org, an online citizen-science platform co-founded by Adler, over 2.6 million volunteers around The world - many of whom have no formal scientific training - contribute to real scientific research projects. To date, zooniverse volunteers have classified millions of galaxies, inspected hundreds of thousands of tuberculosis bacteria to fight antibiotic resistance, discovered new exoplanets, and helped research teams across disciplines tackle huge data sets. Through a rich array of digital programming, from our skywatch wednesday online Planetarium show to our sky observer's hangout youtube livestream events with our public observing team to our wow! Signal science sketch comedy and musicals to our online google arts & cultural exhibitions, The Adler has continued to provide a rich array of opportunities to foster connections and create space for The wonders of our universe and casting science as The stories of humanity. Adler teens continued to work with our scientists and engineers to carry out The first-ever light-pollution survey of chicago. They also helped chicago's palo forest preserve successfully earn The designation as The world's largest urban night sky place from The international dark sky association and organized to educate others and address light pollution in their own communities. We also continue to nurture our partnership with children's hospitals through our virtual field trips program to engage pediatric patients in The wonders of our solar system and core concepts around size scale. Making connections between people, ideas, and our universe doesn't just feel good - it drives scientific progress. When people feel welcome in The scientific community, they deliver real results. Through The wonder of space science, The Adler connects people, communities and institutions so we can explore our universe together and use our collective knowledge and skills to create a better world for everyone.

Who funds The Adler Planetarium

Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
GrantmakerDescriptionAmount
Fulk Family FoundationTo Rehouse, Preserve and Protect Items in the Adler's Collections.$2,000,000
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor Grant Recipient's Exempt Purposes$724,900
Arie and Ida Crown MemorialCapital$500,000
...and 50 more grants received totalling $5,005,195

Personnel at The Adler Planetarium

NameTitleCompensation
Michelle B. LarsonPresident and Chief Executive Officer$422,733
Audris WongVice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer$61,005
Ryu MizunoChief Revenue Officer
Ryutaro MizunoVice President , Marketing and Communications$207,246
Cathleen BrueggemannVice President , Development - Former$182,558
...and 11 more key personnel

Financials for The Adler Planetarium

RevenuesFYE 06/2023
Total grants, contributions, etc.$9,837,130
Program services$6,176,636
Investment income and dividends$1,039,069
Tax-exempt bond proceeds$0
Royalty revenue$0
Net rental income$1,386,973
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets$-3,488
Net income from fundraising events$-185,289
Net income from gaming activities$0
Net income from sales of inventory$0
Miscellaneous revenues$523,165
Total revenues$18,774,196

Form 990s for The Adler Planetarium

Fiscal year endingDate received by IRSFormPDF link
2023-062024-02-23990View PDF
2022-062023-03-15990View PDF
2021-062022-03-09990View PDF
2021-062022-02-25990View PDF
2020-062021-04-13990View PDF
...and 10 more Form 990s

Organizations like The Adler Planetarium

OrganizationLocationRevenue
Museum of ScienceBoston, MA$72,506,770
The Franklin InstitutePhiladelphia, PA$36,043,314
Science Museum of MinnesotaSaint Paul, MN$35,064,602
The ExploratoriumSan Francisco, CA$61,024,177
Orlando Science CenterOrlando, FL$14,104,581
Museum of FlightSeattle, WA$65,311,789
Da Vinci Science Center (DSC)Allentown, PA$10,350,448
Oregon Museum of Science and IndustryPortland, OR$21,812,736
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumNew York, NY$30,558,446
Adventure Science Center - NashvilleNashville, TN$7,180,119
Data update history
August 25, 2024
Received grants
Identified 15 new grant, including a grant for $110,000 from Steve & Amy Louis Foundation
June 14, 2024
Used new vendors
Identified 4 new vendors, including , , , and
May 27, 2024
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2023
May 21, 2024
Updated personnel
Identified 4 new personnel
May 19, 2024
Used new vendors
Identified 3 new vendors, including , , and
Nonprofit Types
Arts, culture, and humanities nonprofitsMuseumsCharities
Issues
Arts, cultural, and humanities
Characteristics
LobbyingFundraising eventsOperates internationallyReceives government fundingEndowed supportCommunity engagement / volunteeringTax deductible donationsAccepts online donations
General information
Address
1300 S Dusable Lake Shore Dr
Chicago, IL 60605
Metro area
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
County
Cook County, IL
Website URL
adlerplanetarium.org/ 
Phone
(312) 922-7827
Facebook page
adlerplanetarium 
Twitter profile
@adlerskywatch 
IRS details
EIN
36-6210902
Fiscal year end
June
Taxreturn type
Form 990
Year formed
1930
Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
Yes
Categorization
NTEE code, primary
A57: Science and Technology Museums
NAICS code, primary
7121: Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions
Parent/child status
Independent
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