Grants for arts education nonprofits

1,273 arts education organizations received at least $10.3 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,907 grants made from 1,400 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $2,000. Of these 1,400 foundations, 82% made just a single grant to art schools, and 3% made grants to four or more art schools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$10,285,929
Total grant dollars given to arts education nonprofits
1,907
Number of grants made annually to arts education nonprofits
1,400
Number of grantmakers funding arts education nonprofits
$2,000
Median grant size to arts education nonprofits

Foundations that support arts education organizations

Out of all grants made to arts education nonprofits, 75% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 60% of the dollar-value of grants to art schools. Foundations funding art schools also made grants to educational service providers, theaters, multiservice human service organizations, animal shelters, and youth development programs.

Foundation size

Foundation sizeNumber of grantmakers
Small
 
1,056
Medium
 
197
Large
 
147
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation typeNumber of grantmakers
Community
 
36
Private
 
1,224
Corporate
 
63
Other
 
77

Grants made

Grants made to art schoolsNumber of grantmakers
1
 
1,159
2-3
 
196
4-10
 
38
11+
 
7

Top 10 foundations supporting arts education organizations

GrantmakerStateGeographic focusPercent of grant dollars to art schoolsNumber of grants made to art schoolsMedian grant size
Seattle FoundationWAState0.0%24$1,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des MoinesIAState0.1%20$3,662
The Rhode Island FoundationRIMetro0.1%20$1,911
JP Morgan Chase FoundationNYNational0.0%18$510
Arkansas Community FoundationARState0.0%14$1,000
Abbvie FoundationILNational0.0%11$100
Chubb Charitable FoundationPANational0.1%11$250
Community Foundation of North Central WiWIMetro0.4%10$1,250
Synchrony FoundationCTNational0.0%9$130
Charity Partners FoundationMANational0.3%9$49

Arts education organizations grantees

Arts education nonprofits with more than $5 million in total revenues received 8% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 18% of all art schools.

Grant amounts

Size of grantNumber of grants
<$10k
 
1,905
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
2

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenueMedian grant size
<$100k
 
$1,425
$100k-$500k
 
$1,500
$500k-$1M
 
$1,500
$1M-$5M
 
$2,000
>$5M
 
$2,000

Grantee states

State of granteeNumber of grants
New York
 
337
California
 
197
Florida
 
98
Massachusetts
 
90
Other
 
1,185

Grantee metros

Metro area of granteeNumber of grants
New York City
 
300
Los Angeles
 
83
San Francisco
 
70
Boston
 
68
Other
 
1,135

Top 25 grants made to arts education nonprofits

GranteeGrant sizePurposeGrantmaker
Memphis Music Initiative$3,350,000General Operational SupportCommunity Foundation of Greater Memphis
Crosstown Arts$2,614,549Program SupportChristian Community Foundation of Memphis and the Mid-South
Creative Growth Art Center$5,0002015 Discretionary GrantKenneth Rainin Foundation
Creative Growth Art Center$5,0002015 Discretionary GrantKenneth Rainin Foundation
Wide Rainbow Corporation$5,000GeneralCM Bass Foundation
Art Sparks$5,000Arts and HumanitiesThe Columbus Foundation
The Ohio Art League$5,000Arts and HumanitiesThe Columbus Foundation
Carnegie Hall$5,000Arts and HumanitiesThe Columbus Foundation
Millersburg Area Art Association$5,000GrantHarold N and Thelma G Lenker Millersburg Community Trust
New Mexico School for the Arts Art Institute (NMSA)$5,000General DonationThe Sulica Fund
The Society of The Four Arts$5,000UnrestrictedWalden Trust
Kauai Academy of Creative Arts$5,000ScholarshipsSmith Foundation
Inner-City Arts$5,000Funding Music and Arts ProgramsPeter and Masha Plotkin Memorial Foundation
Anderson Ranch Arts Center$5,000General ProgramAlchemy Charitable Foundation
Young Audiences New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania$5,000For Programming in Trenton SchoolsGeraldine R Dodge Foundation
Arts Horizons$5,000For Project Support To Continue the Creation of An Online Arts Education Professional Development Learning Tool for Teachers and Teaching Artists, With A Focus This Year on DanceGeraldine R Dodge Foundation
Locust Projects$5,000General PurposeThe Kirk Foundation
Teach - To Educate All Children$5,000Support Non-Profit Educational OrgTexas Children's Hospital (TCS)
Artists for Humanity$5,000Charitable GiftThe Episode Foundation
Fractured Atlas$5,000To Empowers Artists, Arts Organizations, and Other Cultural Sector Stakeholders By Eliminating Practical Barriers To Artistic Expression, So As To Foster A More Agile and Resilient Cultural Ecosystem.Richard Shaklee Memorial Foundation
Free Arts Nyc$5,000General Operating SupportJ M Kaplan Fund
Radius Books$5,000For the Book: Debi Cornwall: Necessary FictionsJ M Kaplan Fund
The Dreamyard Project$5,000General Operating SupportJ M Kaplan Fund
Fractured Atlas$5,000To Support the OrganizationThe Victor Herbert Foundation
National Black Arts Festival$5,000Provide General Operating SupportAnnie E Casey Foundation (AECF)
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Arts education nonprofits" category for this page is determined by the "A25: Arts Education, Schools of Art" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.