2024 Annual Report

Steady Ahead

2024 has been a year of enrichment. Small improvements in the center, training for our staff, and getting our Mobile Planetarium out into the region! Our exhibits, guest numbers, programs, and reach have all grown. Our staff has grown steadily as well to increase our capacity and run all the excitement. Here are the numbers this year and the make-up of who has visited:

12,100 visitors (Nov 23'-Nov ‘24) NEW RECORD

33 field trips
5,366 people in the region got to experience the planetarium on site or in a Mobile Lab
261 memberships (representing multiple family members)

Notable Happenings:

The Earth and Space Lab continues to inspire, thanks to women of Impact 100 TC:
- 4 interactive Virtual Reality stations
- A portable full dome Planetarium that had over 5,366 visitors this year! This included 12 off-site trips to schools, libraries, and community centers.
Summer Day Camps continue to engage youth:
- 97 kids enjoyed day camps over 9 weeks this summer, learning about culture, science, and art from the past and present around the world.
- Thank you again to Five Shores for the donation of their event tent, and to the Waring Family for use of the outdoor space for another year!
The Sound Garden got some happy additions this year—pretty whimsical decorations, an interactive fairy garden, and beautiful flowers donated by Phil Gagliano whom we fondly call “The Godfather,” in memory of Anne Dda
Our new metal sign frame (Rotary Charities grant) was erected and cemented in nicely with the help of Rob Rafferty, Rich Brauer, Elmer’s, Kent Companies, George Boddy, Market Basket, and Kris Kammerer.
- We are hoping for grant funds in the coming year to replace the banners inside the frame,
Our Third Annual BREWMASTERS, COGtoberfest, took place on our home turf Oct 16.
- We are grateful to announce we raised just about $11,00 to help us maintain the center and services through the end of the year!
- It was fun and beneficial to bring everyone to our space! We look forward to brining Brewmasters back to the center in summer 2025.
- We are still in need of support to carry us through the slower, financially trying winter season of the new year, when our families need us the most. Please consider a donation to help us keep our doors open and our prices affordable for our families.

Guest Breakdown

Our new animals to the “Live! Nature” part of Cognition: Mable and Delilah Rose the chinchillas, Slinkey the Ferret, Angus the scorpion, Annie the Anomie, and some new live corals in the ocean aquarium.

Sarah Tellas, Google Review

“Such a fun place for kids, and the adults enjoyed it too! So many enrichment activities packed into this center. Including animals to handle and feed. It kept a 4 and 6 yo entertained for 4 hours (even longer if they weren’t closing.) Do not let the buildings small appearance fool you, I’ve been to kids museums 3x the size with half as much stuff to do. Even us adults had fun challenging each other to the many logic games they had available.”

Financial Review

Cognition is funded by daily admission and membership fees, program services, a small gift shop, and community support. Here is the breakdown of the past year (Jan 1- Nov 15):

Income Makeup

In order to keep prices affordable for families, in accordance with similar centers in the state, we rely on individual contributions for about 30% of our annual operating budget. Grants are another kind of income. Those that apply to our regular budget are included here, but many times grants are for special projects that have their own special expenses. Those are not included in these diagrams, but are described below.

Expense Breakdown

Our largest expense is the incredible human resources it takes to run the center. Part of Cognition's heartbeat is to be relational. It takes a multi-skilled, interactive staff to complete the projects and create the relationships that make up Cognition. We believe that this is a priority in spending and hope to increase this area in the future. It is the team behind Cognition that makes it such a special place!

Grants and Foundation Gifts

2023

Art and Mary Schmuckal Foundation— $5,000 towards a Great Treehouse project; to replace the plastic fort in the front of the center with a wooden Treehouse structure that will include an upper deck, a slide, and interactive elements. This amount is in holding until we secure the rest of the funds for the project.
New in 2024
Benzie Sunrise Rotary— $2,000 for our new Scholarship Fun for memberships and fieldtrips, to Cognition more accessible for Benzie County residents (and Benzie County schools students)!
Grants that support General Operations and help us close the gap of what we need to fundraise for in order to staff and maintain the center each year:
- Seabury Foundation--$10,000 awarded to generally support all we do at Cognition! This helped the center stay active and functional when everything slowed down this fall.
- The Wayne and Joan Webber Foundation— $10,000 awarded to empower Cognition! These funds have enabled us to purchase some exhibit materials, pay a tortoise vet bill, invest in some gift shop items, and will support other operating costs through the next few months.
- Hillquest Family Foundation—$1,000 to support operations of the discovery center
- CS Mott Foundation—$3,000 to support operations of the discovery center