Annual Report 2021-2022

Children’s Museum of Phoenix ANNUAL REPORT

July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022

Engaging the minds, muscles and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them.

Message From Our CEO

Dear Friends of the Children’s Museum of Phoenix,

As I sit down to write this letter in my office at the Museum that shares a wall with “Peddle Power” (aka The Car Wash) my thoughts are interrupted by the happy sounds of toddlers squealing in delight as they maneuver their trikes through the gauntlet of scrubbers and fans. Interspersed with the giggles are VERY enthusiastic “beep beeps” coming from the 1st graders (on their first field trip EVER!) as they tow each other in tiny rickshaws.

And while sitting here, it’s hard for me to feel anything but “things are back to normal” when we have the unbelievable privilege of seeing happy children once again laughing and playing in our halls. Yet, I know that because of COVID, many children who normally would have visited regularly as toddlers are experiencing the Museum for the first time. Those critical social and emotional skills that we practice through play alongside other children were put on pause for very grown-up reasons. While I’m thrilled to share that play is back – we are also keenly aware that most children still need to make up for some of that lost time. Every single staff member, board member, and volunteer at the Children’s Museum is passionately dedicated to being a vital partner in making sure our youngest community members are thriving - and we couldn’t have been more excited nor more dedicated to our mission of engaging the minds, muscles, and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them.

Our very busy year started with our first traveling exhibit, Very Eric Carle. During its three-month exhibition, over 70,000 children and their families experienced the joy and magic that is Eric Carle. Our KIDchen and Garden programs re-engaged families in teaching healthy eating habits in a fun way, and popular seasonal exhibits like Foam Zone and Sock Skating returned to an ever-eager audience.

Our annual fundraising Gala, Retro Recess, and the return of our annual SandFest event both benefited our Every Child Program, providing free and reduced Museum admission to children and their families who wouldn’t normally be able to pay the price of admission.

Our commitment to IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) took on more meaning as we launched our IDEA Fellows Program and celebrated diversity through featuring special artists during Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Women’s History Month.

None of this could have been possible without the support of our donors. We are profoundly grateful. Beep beep!

Fondly, Kate Wells CEO

OUR FIRST TRAVELING EXHIBIT

Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit opened on May 29, 2021 at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. It was our very first traveling exhibit at the Museum and was co-organized by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. At this play-and-learn exhibit, visitors stepped into the pages of Eric Carle’s colorful picture books from his classic “Very” series. Each story was a testament to Eric Carle’s love of nature, his respect for the emotional lives of children, and his recurring themes of friendship, creativity, and the power of imagination.

From opening on May 29th to close on September 6th over 70,000 families experienced the joy, wonder, and art of this beloved children’s book author and illustrator. Thank you to our local sponsors, Discount Tire, PNC Bank and The Diven Family, for supporting this very special exhibit.

RETrO RECESS WAS RAD!

Retro Recess, the 13th annual Children’s Museum Gala, was held on November 6th. Nearly 200 guests spent the evening enjoying cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, live auction and dinner under the stars, all to celebrate that PLAY IS BACK! Adding a retro-tacular flare to the evening was a show by the retro skaters as they skated to ‘80s hits.

This amazing event raised $258,000, supporting our Every Child Program which offers free/reduced admission to underserved children and their grown-ups. Each year, the Every Child program provides free and reduced Museum admission to more than 50,000 children and families who face financial, emotional or circumstantial challenges.

A SAND-TACULAR WEEKEND RETURNS

Spring 2022 brought 140 tons of sand back to downtown Phoenix on March 25th and 26th with our annual SandFest event. SandFest offered two days of outdoor activities including sand play for kids and their families, a sand-sculpting competition with local teams, a signature sculpture created by world-renowned experts, the SAND GUYS and an after-hours adults-only “Beach Party”. Thank you to our sponsor, T.W. Lewis and to our 2022 SandFest teams: ASU School of Art, Barker Pacific Group, Brighton Jones, PADT, Inc., and SmithGroup.

Over 3,000 people attended our sand-tacular activities, in support of our Every Child Program. Mayor Kate Gallego and the Sand Guys, led by Rusty Croft, judged the competition. Congratulations to all our teams, and especially Barker Pacific for winning 1st place and SmithGroup for being the runner up and winning the Fan Favorite Award!

Children’s Museum

MEET OUR IDEA FELLOWS

In 2021-22, the Museum was proud to launch the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Fellows Program to mold a workforce reflective of diverse backgrounds. This program intentionally seeks candidates in post-secondary education and exceptional high school seniors who are impacted by systemic barriers and provides semester-long, paid fellowship opportunities in finance/administration, marketing, development, and educational programming. The Fellowship’s overarching objectives are to impact the individual students through a meaningful, supportive work experience and extensive networking opportunities and to benefit the Museum and the communities we serve through their diverse perspectives.

We were thrilled to have these wonderful IDEA Fellows join us this year:

Rowan Alper – Exhibits Fellow

Amelia Hay – Educational Programs Fellow

Carolina Madrid – Visitor Experience Fellow

Zoe Tyler – Educational Programs Fellow

Celebrating DIVERSITY

The Museum was overjoyed to feature special artists, such as Fiesta Mexicana dancers and Etsitty Group Pow Wow Dancers to celebrate diverse cultures with our guests. In The Monroe, we displayed the artwork of local artists, changing the exhibition each month. Several highlights included exhibitions by Aaron Allen Marner for Black History Month, Gennaro Garcia celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Nancy Chong and Michael Kong for Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and artists Griselda Avalos, Angela Cazel-Jahn, Heidi Dauphin, Sava Elder, Alyssa Mehlhorn, Regina Pashcal D’Andrea, Andrea Perusquia, and Catie Raya for Women’s History Month.

Carolina, Rowan & Zoe

Amelia assisting with our KIDchen programs.

REVENUE

Our Donors

$500,000 & Above

Small Business Administration

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

$100,000 & Above

Flinn Foundation*

The Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation The William Randolph Hearst Foundations*

$50,000-$99,000

Gila River Indian Community

Phoenix Office of Arts & Culture

$20,000-$49,999

Arizona Commission on the Arts

Arizona Complete Health

Carol Critchfield Foundation

Casino Arizona & Talking Stick Resort

Delta Dental of Arizona

Eunice and Carl Feinberg

T.W. Lewis Foundation

Rebecca Light and Josh Wertlieb

$10,000-$19,999

Dee and Steve DeTommaso

Rob Donat

Brighton Jones Elizabeth M. Gordon

Jane A. Lehman & Alan G. Lehman Foundation

Margaret T. Morris Foundation

Abigail and Edward Olaya

Sanderson Lincoln

The Kimball Foundation

Stephanie and Dan Zebelman

$5,000-$9,999

Applied Materials Foundation

Arizona Public Service

Barker Pacific Group, Inc.

Benevity

BMO Harris Bank

Rita Bostick and Joy Ramsey

Brighton Jones

Cathy and Loren Brown

Cardinals Charities

Carstens Family Funds

Cresa Phoenix

Roopali Desai and Jay Hardin

Ann Dey

Fennemore Law

Intel Corporation

Littler Mendelson

Angel Jannasch-Pennell and Mike Pennell

Dawna and Gerald Pitts

Robert & Toni Bader Charitable Foundation

Season for Sharing

Yesenia and Harold Simmons

Sprouts Farmers Market

Summer Youth Program Fund

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix gratefully acknowledges the following corporations, foundations and individuals whose gifts have played a major role in supporting our mission of engaging the minds, muscles and imaginations of children and the grown-ups who care about them.

Sunstate Equipment Foundation

Jen and Jim Talerico

Sarah and Anthony Taylor

The David B. Jones Foundation

The Walker Family U.S. Bank

Wells Fargo YB Company

$1,000-$4,999

Anonymous Albertsons-Safeway

Tom Ambrose

American Express Foundation

Mary and Marty Aronson

Jessica and George Belokas

John Bomhoff

Francine Buchhalter

LeAnn Burgher

Amber and Brian Campbell

Camden Copper Square

Heather Candelaria

Gary Jackson and Oscar De Las Salas

Desert Diamond Casino

Jay Chernikoff

Brook Cosby

Morgane and Conrad Diven

Feeney Family Charities

Briseida and Gennaro Garcia

Sara and Ryan Hale

Terry Hanson

Meredith and Mark Hawkins

Rebecca Hefty

Kashuna and Lloyd Hopkins

Sue and Scott Horn

Charlie Humme

Sally and Andrew Hurwitz

Abby Kahn

Abby and Kory Leadon

Becky and Dan Lieberman

Anna and Doug Lodder

Jian Kao

Mira and Aman Kapur

Teri Kelley

KOI Education

Sigrid Kuster

Erin and Shaylon Lovell

Osborn Maledon

Erica Maxwell

Lauren and Darren Mckeon

Paul Mittman

Melissa Morin

Patti and Forrest Noelck

Ken O'Connor

Shawn Oller

Allison and Essen Otu

PADT, Inc.

Kristen Purnell

Jennifer and Heath Scheid

Josh Shade

Deanna and John Sheedy

Andrea and Andrew Stone

SmithGroup

Stephanie and Aaron Tribe

Kweilin Waller

Kate and Jeff Wells

Donna and Marcus Williams

Korwyn Williams

Kristin and Marc Windtberg Terry Woodbeck TFO Phoenix

Up to $999

Affiliated Pediatric Dentistry

Avery Africa

Amazon Smile Foundation Ameriprise Financial

Lisa Andrasko

Grace Araujo

Amy and Patrick Armstrong

Arizona Gives Day

Rachel Arthur

Keri and Kavon Attarpour Estela Barraza Frank Barrios

Bergen County United Way Ricardo Bernal

Jeanne and Matthew Birmingham Barton Blau

Kelli and Mariano Borges David Bourland Ramiro Bravo Mary Cangeme

Valeria Cardenas

Edward Caron

Kimberly Carter

Leigh Carter

Katherine and Rick Cecala Ilene Celniker Belinda Cerrillo

Michael Cheney Susan Cook

Duffy Corn Alex Covalciuc

Kim Covington and Derrick Grant Neil Crapo

Ed and Micaela Cunje Damita Curry Glen Daignault Brandi and Brian Devlin Cayly Dixon

Missy Doney Walker

Susan and Frederick Edwards Donna Esse Facebook

Adrienne Farrell

Charlotte and Michael Farr

Michael Feinberg Mary Terese Forsyth

Anna Fox

Tracy and Brian Friedman

Friends of Pack 329

Judy Gilbert

Katrina Gillespie

Felesha Givens and Kurt Barksdale

Emily Goldstein Adam Goodman

Fern Greathouse

Sarah and Joe Griffin Kim Guerrette

Honeywell International

Jill Foley

Rachel Frazier Johnson

Jeffrey Golner

Danny Gregory

Lindsay Grizzle and Luke Demler

Kathi Gwynn

Georgie Hanlin Mary Hauer

Teresa Hauer Scott Havice

Morgan Howson Priscilla Hubbard Sonia Huiner

Jesse Ivy

Lynn and Bryan Jeffries

Beth Jenkins

Susan Kuster

Cathy and David Linthicum Erin and Shaylon Lovell Yesmina Luchsinger

Joseph Lupica

Jason Malcolm

Amanda Marie Rick McCartney

Alyson McIntosh

Crystal McLellan Patrick McWhortor

Ana Melo

Ann Morton

Sally Newcomb

Rhona O'Neal

Daphne Opperman

Hailey Pearson

Judy Krysik and Alonso Peralta Arturo Perez

Kristy and Tom Peters

Kathleen and Bruce Pettycrew

Trine and Martijn Pierik

Michelle Pierson

Susan Pirolo

Alison and Wayne Rainey Amanda Rexroat

Amanda and Wesley Reynolds Pat Reynolds

Stacie and David Ricks

Andrea Robertson Ana Rodriguez

Susan Rodriguez Juan Romero

Ernesto Rose

Matthew Saling

Hildy Saizow

Stanley Sargol

Stephanie Schull

Larry Scoufos

Andria and Mark Sheridan

Jerry Siemieniec

Tara Smith

Adrienne and Chad Speas

Brian Spicker

Eugene Sooto Courtney Stanford

Grant Stanford

Gayle Starr

John and Christy Stofko

Susan Symington

Lukaea Taylor

Up to $999 cont.

Katherine Taylor-Strickling

Angelo Terrado

Michelle Tinsley

Yvette Urias

Richard Verdugo

Max Vollmann

Megan Wahl

Jazmyn Walker

Amy and Andy Walters

Anita and Donald Wells

Diana Wermes

Marion Wiener

Glenn Wike

Arlene Williams

Susan Williams

Chad Wolf

Josie and Walter Young Pauline Zaro Ricky Zhou Madeline Zobel

Corporations

Affiliated Pediatric Dentistry

Albertsons-Safeway

Amazon Smile Foundation American Express Foundation

Ameriprise Financial Applied Materials Foundation

Arizona Complete Health Arizona Gives Day

Arizona Public Service

Barker Pacific Group Benevity

Bergen County United Way

BMO Harris Bank

Brighton Jones Camden Copper Square Cardinals Charities

Carol Critchfield Foundation

Carstens Family Funds

Casino Arizona & Talking Stick Resort

Costco Cresa Phoenix

Delta Dental of Arizona

Desert Diamond Casino Facebook Fennemore Craig, PC Flinn Foundation

Gila River Indian Community Intel Corporation

Jane A. Lehman & Alan G. Lehman Foundation

KOI Education

Legacy Traditional Schools Littler Mendelson

Margaret T. Morris Foundation

PADT, Inc.

Phoenix Office of Arts & Culture

Robert & Toni Bader Charitable Foundation

Sanderson Lincoln

Season for Sharing

Small Business Administration SmithGroup

Sprouts Farmers Market

Summer Youth Program Fund

Sunstate Equipment Foundation

T.W. Lewis Foundation

TFO Phoenix

The David B. Jones Foundation

The Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation

The Kimball Foundation

The William Randolph Hearst Foundations

Total Wine & More U.S. Bank

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Wells Fargo YB Company

cmop events

Danny Gregory

Joe Griffin Kim Guerrette

Terry M. Hanson

Teresa Hauer

Lloyd & Kashuna Hopkins

Gary Jackson & Oscar De Las Salas

Rachel Frazier Johnson

Teri Kelley

Sigrid Kuster Kory & Abby Leadon

Becky & Dan Lieberman

Rebecca S. Light & Josh Wertlieb

Anna Lodder

Yesmina Luchsinger

Rick McCartney Darren McKeon Paul Mittman

Ken O'Connor

Abigail & Edward Olaya Shawn Oller

Arturo Perez Martijn & Trine Pierik

Presenting Sponsor

Carol Critchfield Foundation

$10,000 Sponsors

Sanderson Lincoln T.W. Lewis Foundation

Table Sponsors

Arizona Community Foundation

BMO Harris Bank

Brighton Jones Cresa Phoenix Fennemore Craig Henry + Horne, LLP

Josh Wertlieb and Rebecca Light Littler Mendelson

Loren and Cathy Brown Mike Pennell and Angel Jannasch-Pennell

Rita Bostick U.S. Bank Wells Fargo YB Company TFO Phoenix

Every Child Paddle Raise

Abby Kahn

Beth Alexander Lisa Andrasko

Dana Atkins

Estela Barraza

Jeanne Birmingham

Matthew Birmingham Ramiro Bravo

Cathy Brown

Francine Buchhalter

LeAnn Burgher Kellie Callahan

Heather Candelaria

Jay Chernikoff

Eric Cochran

Neal Crapo

Damita Curry

Roopali Desai & Jay Hardin

Jill Foley

Jeffrey Golner Derrick Grant

Gerald & Donna Pitts Nick Reed

Pat Reynolds David Ricks

Ernesto Rose

Yesenia & Harold Simmons Brian Spicker Christy Stofko Jennifer & Jim Talerico Richard Verdugo Jennifer Vollmann

Megan Wahl

Missy Doney Walker & Jeffrey Garza Walker

Glenn Wike Korwyn Williams Stefanie & Dan Zebelman

Octane Raceway

Odysea Aquarium

Picaboo

RoadHouse Cinemas Scottsdale

SanTan Brewing Company

Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel

SmithGroup

T.W. Lewis Foundation

The Wigwam

In-Kind donors

Aridus Wine Company

Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation

BallBoy Productions LLC

Blackbaud

Caliente Construction, Inc.

City of Phoenix Dig It Gardens

Fairytale Brownies

Fasturtle

Grand Canyon Brewery

Hula's Modern Tiki

Hyatt Regency Phoenix

Latest Craze Productions

Legacy Traditional Schools

Pioneer Landscaping , Inc

Phoenix Suns Charities

Scottsdale Railroad and Mechanical Society

Taco Chelo

Thunderbirds Charities

Valley Towing

Arizona Coyotes

Arizona Diamondbacks

Augusta Ranch Golf Club

AZ Opera Ballet Arizona Bearizona Wildlife Park

Costco Fratelli Pizza

Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort

Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch

SandFest Team Sponsors

Barker Pacific Group T.W. Lewis Foundation PADT Inc.

Oakland Construction/SmithGroup

Community Partners

Anonymous

Aridus Wine Company

Arizona Grand Resort & Spa

Arizona Science Center

Barrio Brewing Co. Benihana, Inc.

Desert Botanical Garden

Fox Restaurant Concepts Grand Canyon Brewery

Grimaldi's Pizzeria Old Town Hula's Modern Tiki

Hurricane Harbor Phoenix Hyatt Regency Phoenix

JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort

Kristen Purnell

KTR Scottsdale

Legacy Traditional School

JL Patisserie Lowell Observatory

Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix Maple & Ash MFG Coffee

Phoenix Suns The Arizona Biltmore The Sanctuary

Total Wine & More White Stallion Ranch

Valley Youth Theatre Zipps Sports Grill

Medieval

Ways to Give

Thank you for choosing to make a gift to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix. Each year, your generosity allows us to offer the very best programs, exhibits and play experiences for children and their grown-ups.

To make a gift to the Museum, please choose one of the following options below:

Donate online: bit.ly/SupportCMoP

Send a check: Please make checks payable to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix and send to:

Children’s Museum of Phoenix Attention: Development Office 215 N. 7th Street | Phoenix, AZ 85034

Transfer Stock: CMoP accepts gifts of public traded securities. Please contact the Development Office (602) 648-2743 for assistance and account information.

Matching Gifts: Contact your employer to see if they have a matching gift program.

PLANNED GIVING: The Monroe Society – created to honor our legacy donors for their generous charitable provisions, wills, trusts or designations of future gifts of insurance or retirement assets. Please contact Georgie Hanlin, Director of Development at ghanlin@childmusephx.org or (602) 648-2743.