# Children's Museum of Indianapolis

Children's Museum of Indianapolis is an Endowment / Foundation based in Indianapolis, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Indianapolis, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Indianapolis, IN, United States
- **Founded:** 1925
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** www.childrensmuseum.org
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-children's-museum-of-indianapolis

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis opened in 1925 as a civic nonprofit and now operates a five-floor, 29-acre campus on North Meridian Street. Jennifer Pace Robinson serves as President and CEO, while the board includes Chairman Julie Carmichael, Vice Chairman and Treasurer Ashley Garry, and Investment Committee member C. Perry Griffith III, President of Denison Parking. Jamie Merisotis, CEO of Lumina Foundation, chaired the investment committee, signaling deep ties to Indiana's institutional philanthropic community. Lilly Endowment Inc. is a major grantor. Strategy cuts across early-stage venture, growth equity, buyouts, distressed debt, secondaries, and natural resources, often through a fund-of-funds framework. The endowment's balanced model includes direct co-investments alongside managers and emphasizes diversification across asset classes and geographies. Confirmable portfolio holdings are not publicly disclosed. Operating assets tied to the museum include its permanent collection, the Dinosphere fossil holdings, the Fireworks of Glass installation by Dale Chihuly, a Dentzel Carousel, the Reuben Wells steam locomotive, and commercial real estate such as the museum campus and adjacent parking garage. The investment committee draws on expertise from Oxford Financial Group, Lumina Foundation, and Denison Parking. While the museum itself reports over a million annual visitors, the precise size of the professional investment team is not publicly itemized. Cryptocurrency donations are accepted, reflecting an adaptive funding posture alongside traditional endowment management. Philanthropic adjacency is formalized through the Children's Museum Guild and sustained grants from Lilly Endowment. The endowment's structural differentiator is its hybrid asset-owner identity: a museum with an investment program that behaves more like a multi-strategy foundation than a traditional nonprofit treasury. Governance separates the museum's earned revenue — admissions, retail, events — from the invested corpus, while the investment committee includes external operating executives rather than solely art-world or museum administrators.

## Sectors

- Education
- Real Estate

## People

- Jennifer Pace Robinson — President and CEO
- Julie Carmichael — Chairman of the Board of Trustees
- Ella Frank — Chief Financial Officer
- Jeremiah Wise — Former Chief Financial Officer
- C. Perry Griffith III — Trustee and Member of the Investment Committee
- Jamie Merisotis — Past Chairman and Investment Committee Chair
- Jeff Thomasson — CEO of Oxford Financial Group
- Ashley Garry — Vice Chairman of the Board and Treasurer

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis?

An investment committee reports to the board of trustees. Past chairman Jamie Merisotis (CEO of Lumina Foundation) held the investment committee chair role. Current committee member C. Perry Griffith III is President of Denison Parking, and Jeff Thomasson, CEO of Oxford Financial Group, serves as a long-term community advisor. Day-to-day treasury oversight falls under the CFO, a position currently held by Ella Frank, who succeeded Jeremiah Wise in mid-2023.

### How does the museum fund its educational mission beyond admissions?

Earned revenue from admissions, retail, and events forms one leg. The endowment — estimated at approximately $366 million (Altss estimate) — provides investment income directed toward operations and programming. Additional philanthropic support flows from Lilly Endowment Inc., the Children's Museum Guild, and a cryptocurrency donation program that accepts digital assets.

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Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:32:13.308Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/children-s-museum-of-indianapolis

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology