Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Summary

FY2026 was a sound year for Boston Children’s Museum’s business operations, during which we continued to build upon a strong financial foundation, and invest in our people and our exhibits. We finished the design work for Phase 1 of the Climate Resiliency Project, which will protect our historic building from flooding and support recovery after disasters for many decades into the future.

As planned, we ended the year with a significant surplus (on a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles basis) and small cash surplus after covering all of our operating and capital costs. FY2026 operating costs included:

• Staff: $7.1 million (or 52% of the Museum’s total costs) for compensation of our talented team.
• Programs and exhibits: In addition to people’s time and effort ($2.9 million in direct compensation) we spent $1.8 million to provide programming inside and outside the museum, in afterschool programs, and in surrounding school districts and communities.
• Facilities: $2.1 million was spent on the maintenance of facilities for our visitors and tenants.

Operating a historic building that hosts a hands-on museum welcoming over 400,000 visitors every year requires significant capital investment. In FY2026, the Museum spent $1.6 million on building improvements and $1.3 million to update or install new exhibits, including the completion of our newest permanent exhibit: Dream it! Build it!

Looking Ahead…

Our property is at critical risk of flooding due to rising tides in the Fort Point Channel. Working with partners at environmental consulting firm VHB and multi-disciplinary design firm Sasaki Associates, Boston Children’s Museum created a bold plan to protect the property. Design and planning for Phase 1 of this ambitious project was completed in FY2026, along with over $15 million secured in funding. We broke ground in August 2026, and expect to complete Phase 1 of the project in about 2 years.

As we embark on the next fiscal year, we have a new President and CEO, a new two-year strategic plan, and new directions to explore as one of the country’s oldest and most prominent children’s museums. For FY2027, our business goals include:

• Breaking ground on the complex, large-scale construction work to protect the building against flooding (completed in August 2026)
• Deeper investment in staff development
• Significant investment to improve our internal technology systems
• Increasing non-operating revenues, including revenues generated from leased office spaces in the upper floors