Spanish 
UP! Capital Campaign Update
JANUARY 2025
CAMPAIGN GOAL:
$8M $9M
PLEDGED TO DATE:
$8.49M (94% of Stretch Goal)
Construction Update
Construction plans for the new wing were submitted to the City of Santa Rosa in December 2025 for preliminary design approval. The Museum chose GMH Builders for construction, guided by Bisbee Architecture and Design. CMOSC is on schedule to break ground in September or October 2026 and aims to open the doors in spring 2028.
The expansion will double the Children’s Museum’s size, allowing it to welcome thousands more children and families each year. From increasing access for low-income families to creating innovative new spaces for science, art, and imagination, the Unlock Potential! campaign will guarantee every child a place to play, learn, and dream.
Read on for a detailed look at the future Inventica exhibit area, which is prominently featured in the new Worlds of Wonder Gallery.
Closing the Campaign–Share Our Bold Vision!
Additional generous commitments from the KHR McNeely Family Foundation and many individual donors have brought the fundraising campaign to within $500,000 of our stretch goal! The Unlock Potential! campaign will launch publicly in May 2026 with a community-wide appeal for gifts of any size, as well as a commemorative brick opportunity for gifts of $1,000 or $2,500.
With your help, we can reach our $9M goal and hopefully go beyond it. Please share CMOSC’s exciting expansion plans with friends and colleagues available on our campaign page, case statement, and the campaign video available below:
Exhibit Sneak Peek: Inventica
Inventica invites children to step into the roles of inventor, engineer, and explorer. Kids will engage with large-format building systems—designing everything from soaring towers to imaginative contraptions limited only by their creativity—and investigate the wonders of the living world through hands-on biological exploration. This engaging space nurtures collaboration, problem-solving, and a deep appreciation for both human ingenuity and the marvels of the natural world.
Rotating pop-up programs will ignite curiosity, whether through coding, circuitry, or nature-based investigations. Programs like Energy Engineers will encourage children to become real-life electrical engineers—experimenting with wires, motors, and simple circuits to turn on lights and make other basic machines whir to life. In Roving Robotics, kids can learn how to program a small robot to drive, talk, draw, joust, and light up.
Other programming includes Let’s Go LEGO, 3-D Printing Possibilities, Coaster Craze balls and ramps, and a Tesselation Station. Inventica offers kids a hands-on experience of how technology, biology, and engineering are creative and impactful.
Stay Tuned for More UP!dates…
The new Worlds of Wonder Gallery and all the exhibits and experiences planned for the expansion, including Inventica, promise to provide:
The dream of expanding the Children’s Museum is not a luxury…it’s a necessity!
Be a part of bringing joyful, transformative experiences into the lives of all children.
