people played, discovered and learned with the Museum
27,328 visited on free or reduced admission days
44% of those visitors were from underserved ZIP codes*
1,910 member families made more than 16,000 visits to the Museum
Children's Museum Tucson | Oro Valley
Years of planning came to fruition as we opened the Angel Charity for Children Education Center at the Evelyn CarswellBing Building.
This ambitious project was made possible by a $1 million Impact Grant from Angel Charity for Children - the largest single grant in Angel Charity’s history - along with generous support from Tucson Foundations, Rio Nuevo, the Connie Hillman Family Foundation and many generous supporters.
Inside, the center bursts with creativity, featuring three colorful program rooms—the Sunset Room, Mountain Room, and Rainbow Room—designed for field trips, after-school programs, camps and birthday celebrations. These spaces especially benefit children from Title I schools, ensuring access for all to enriching experiences. A welcoming courtyard doubles as an event space for community gatherings.
The second floor now houses the Museum’s administrative offices, freeing up the original Carnegie library building for future expansion, advancing the museum’s vision of a comprehensive campus that prioritizes STEAM education and creative programming for underserved communities.
education center opens
EDUCATION CENTER
An important goal of our Outreach team is to connect with families all over Southern Arizona, including communities that may not otherwise have a chance to come to the Museum. A partnership with Lutheran Social Services allows us to reach refugee families from Ukraine and Afghanistan. This ongoing weekly program includes outreach with early childhood education programming and family days at the Museum.
A collaboration with Ronald McDonald House offered monthly visits to the house with facilitated, bilingual activities scaled for a variety of ages.
Gabby was here! In February we hosted Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse for a character meet-and-greet at the Museum. Gabby’s visit was part of Meowseum Discovery Days, a collaboration with the Association of Children’s Museums and DreamWorks Animation. And our visitors loved Gabby! More than 800 people showed up to meet her, and more than 3,500 took part in Gabby-related activities leading up to the visit.
19,338 people were reached through school and community outreach
10,935 visitors took part in bilingual school tours and group visits
Our first PBS Kids Day was a rousing success! A partnership between Arizona Public Media and the Museum combined the excitement of PBS Kids edutainment with the Museum’s programming for a literacy-forward community day filled with readings, character meet-and-greets, book giveaways and lots of hands-on fun!
5,858 children from Title I schools were provided scholarships for tours
Our community outreach continues to grow, and our reputation led to so many new opportunities this year! We partnered with the World Baseball Classic, Tucson Festival of Books, TenWest and the 22nd Street Gem Show, bringing the joy and discovery of the Museum to thousands of kids throughout the community. We continue to creatively reach all kids in Southern Arizona.
children’s museum oro valley at tohono chul
The unique collaboration between Children’s Museum Oro Valley and Tohono Chul was highlighted in several publications this year, including Desert Leaf and The Explorer. Our collaboration entered its third year, and we are excited as we look ahead to more play-based learning for kids at the garden!
31,431 explored and played at Children’s Museum Oro Valley at Tohono Chul
Changing and updating exhibits and activities at CMOV ensures kids are engaged every time they visit. Our large buildable prickly pear cactus is a huge hit. Expanded water features in our outdoor space and a chicken coop add even more imaginitive fun to the farm area. Twiceweekly Clay Play, in addition to regular visits from clay artists, make our crowd-pleasing Clay Studio even more popular.
We continue to expand our community outreach in Oro Valley. In addition to Chillin’ at the Chul, we reached out to families at the Oro Valley Spooktacular and the Oro Valley Holiday Spectacular, and Parks & Recreation Camps reaching more than 3,600 kids and families.
Summer 2025 launched our Kids Cactus Club, a promotional program that rewarded visitors each time they visited the Children’s Museum Oro Valley. We had more than 150 families participate!
Revenues & Support
■ Contributions & Event Revenues (34%) 1,000,232
■ Admissions (21%) 619,397
■ Public Support (12%) 345,181
■ Program Revenues (11%) 335,119
■ In kind, Interest & Misc. (10%) 315,212
■ Memberships (7%) 211,006
■ Capital Campaign Contributions (5%)
Functional Expenses
■ Programs and Exhibits (79%) 2,438,181
■ Fundraising (13%)
■ Management and General (8%)
Expenses 3,102,244
in Net Assets* (139,629) expenses
after depreciation 5,808 people visited for free with community passes 35,934 visitors gained reduced-price access through discounted admission $638,916 given back to the community through discounts, passes, free events, outreach and tours
investors FY 2025 highlights
$50,000 & up
Armstrong McDonald Foundation
Thomas R. Brown Foundations, STEM programs
Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ruth McCormick Tankersley Charitable Trust
Town of Oro Valley
$20,000 - $49,999
State of Arizona
Arizona Complete Health
Burton Family Foundation
Ramesh Jagasia
Kinder Morgan Foundation
Joseph Stanley Leeds Foundation
Philip J & Carol J Lyons Foundation
Marshall Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Pima County
Steele Foundation
TMC Healthcare
City of Tucson
Vance Foundations
Tucson Electric Power
$10,000 - $19,999
Arizona Commission on the Arts
Arizona Community Foundation AZ Humanities
First Things First Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
Friends of the Oro Valley Public Library
HSL Properties
Estate of Douglas S. Holsclaw, Jr. PNC Foundation
The Stocker Foundation
James C. Stewart Charitable Foundation
Stone Canyon Community Foundation
Sundt Construction, Inc.
$5,000 - $9,999
ArchWell Health
Fred and Christine Armstrong Foundation
Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona
Association of Science and Technology Centers
BeachFleischman PC
Teresa & Buck Brown
Caterpillar, Inc
Citi
Country Fair White Elephant, Inc.
Cox Communications
Encompass Health
Connie Hillman Family Foundation
O’Reilly Motors
Chuck Pettis
Presidio Tucson
Renewal by Andersen
Donald E. Ray Trust
Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area
Paul Bryant Smith Foundation
Southwest Energy, LLC
Sundt Foundation
TCI Wealth Advisors
Union Pacific Foundation
Children's Museum Tucson | Oro Valley
$1,000 - $4,999
Bayer U.S.
Casa de los Niños, Inc
Central Arizona Project
Children’s Clinics
Cigna
Crest Insurance Group
CXT Realty
Eugene C. & Wiletta F. Denton
Family Foundation
Desert Diamond Casino
Downtown Tucson Partnership
Fennemore Craig, P.C.
Fiesta Bowl Charities
Finley Distributing
Alison & Mike Hernandez
Susie & Stan Hilkemeyer
Hughes Federal Credit Union
Beth & Michael Kasser
Kai Family Foundation
Klein Family Giving Fund
LeCroy & Milligan Associates, Inc
Long Realty Cares Foundation
Scott & Jannine McDonald
Mercaldo Law Firm
Hanna Miller & Luke Jakobsen
Mining and Minerals Education Foundation
Nancy Waymire Munroe Fund
Suzanna & Steve Pangburn
PICOR Charitable Foundation
Power Women Investing
Shelley Pozez
R & A CPAs
Rio Nuevo
David & Pam Rossetter
Schmidt and Barton Family Fund
Carrie & Marc Serra
Southern Arizona Roadrunners
Swaim Associates Ltd
Target
Jessi & Greg Taylor
Texas Instruments
Tucson Association of Realtors
Tucson Federal Credit Union
Tucson Jewish Community Center
Tucson Water
U.S. Bank
United Way of Tucson & Southern Arizona
University of Arizona College of Science
Vantage West Credit Union
Vertex Education
Visit Tucson
Walmart 4490
Ward 6 Office
Waste Management
Richard and Beatrice Wiltse Trust
$500 - $999
Monica Bennett
Caterpillar Foundation
Robert Fischer & Kerri Strug
Adam & Victoria Foard
Evelyn Groh
George & Shawna Henderson
Jayne Henninger
Isaac & Simone Figueroa
Carlota Larson & Jonathan Ruiz
Larsen Baker, LLC
Martha Manar
Nicole & Eric Maneval
David & Adriana Mariñez
Michael Shiner & Melissa
Spiller-Shiner
Gemma Thomas
Ralph Verna & Santos Martinez
Allende
Transit Tea LLC
Hilary & Michael Van Alsburg
Walmart 1411
Walmart 2922
Walmart 3143
Walmart 3377
Walmart 4473
Walmart 4603
Walmart 5031
Walmart 6692 (Sam’s Club)
Amy & Brett Welander
Annual donations from July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025. Expansion donations gratefully acknowledged in Capital Campaign reports.
Mission
To provide fun, play-based, interactive, hands-on learning experiences for children and their families.
DaNel Hogan Director of Education
David Lopez Director of Operations
Steve Pangburn Chair
Gemma Thomas Incoming Chair
Nicole Maneval Secretary
Vision
To inspire children and their families to reach their full potential through discovery, creativity and learning.
