Grants for arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

Name: Top 25 grants made to arts, culture, and humanities organizations
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

23,052 arts, culture, and humanities organizations received at least $1.7 billion in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 38,183 grants made from 11,855 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,300. Of these 11,855 foundations, 48% made just a single grant to arts nonprofits, and 20% made grants to four or more arts nonprofits. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$1,691,917,150

Total grant dollars given to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

38,183

Number of grants made annually to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

11,855

Number of grantmakers funding arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

$1,300

Median grant size to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

Foundations that support arts, culture, and humanities organizations

Out of all grants made to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits, 83% 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 arts nonprofits. Foundations funding arts nonprofits also made grants to theaters, universities, colleges, historical societies, and educational service providers.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	9,953
Medium	1,244
Large	652

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	170
Private	10,522
Corporate	380
Other	783

Grants made

Grants made to arts nonprofits	Number of grantmakers
1	5,791
2-3	3,601
4-10	2,045
11+	418

Top 10 foundations supporting arts, culture, and humanities organizations

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to arts nonprofits	Number of grants made to arts nonprofits	Median grant size
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	1.8%	585	$1,050
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.9%	510	$1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.1%	379	$320
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	1.3%	349	$1,200
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	1.3%	343	$1,000
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	1.7%	292	$500
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.3%	242	$112
Baird Foundation	WI	National	5.0%	225	$500
Chubb Charitable Foundation	PA	National	1.8%	193	$200
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)	NJ	National	0.0%	150	$500

See all grantmaking to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

Arts, culture, and humanities organizations grantees

Arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits with more than $5 million in total revenues received 92% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 35% of all arts nonprofits.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	38,036
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	147

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,200
$100k-$500k	$1,500
$500k-$1M	$1,500
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$1,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	6,569
California	4,010
Massachusetts	1,758
Florida	1,593
Other	24,253

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	5,718
Los Angeles	1,511
Chicago	1,348
Washington DC	1,295
Other	24,569

Top 25 grants made to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Museum of Fine Arts	$105,485,818	Cash and Net Asset Value	Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation
Iowa State Univeristy of Science and Technology	$100,386,531	See Part Iv	Iowa State University Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$97,071,679	See Part Vii	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$97,071,679	See Part Vii	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Philadelphia Orchestra Association	$55,000,000	Arts & Culture	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Academy Foundation	$48,559,941	Cash	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy Foundation	$48,559,941	FMV	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy Foundation	$48,559,941	To Support the Org.	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$42,905,821	FMV	Academy Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	$42,490,621	Sup. of Related Org	Academy Foundation
Iowa State Univeristy of Science and Technology	$39,394,877	Annual Distribution	Big Twelve Conference
Whitney Museum of American Art	$34,299,800	Donation of Cash and Artworks By Roy Lichtenstein for the Museum's Collection of His Work	Roy Lichtenstein Foundation
Center for Media and Public Affairs	$32,386,228	Program Support	George Mason University Foundation
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)	$29,243,900	TVPRG	Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Sesame Workshop (SW)	$25,107,013	To Enhance Caregiver-Child Engagement and Improve Children's Learning and Socio-Emotional Outcomes By Implementing A Large-Scale Early Childhood Intervention in the Syrian Response Region.	John D & Catherine T Macarthur Foundation
First Look Media	$25,045,000	Arts & Culture	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Flint Cultural Center Corporation	$19,452,855	Cash Value	Flint Cultural Center Foundation
Flint Cultural Center Corporation	$17,977,055	See Part Iv	Flint Cultural Center Foundation
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	General Support	Internet Archive
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	FMV	Internet Archive
San Francisco Public Library.	$16,750,000	FMV	Internet Archive
Independent Television Services	$15,574,046	TVPRG	Corporation for Public Broadcasting
the Perelman Center (PACWTC)	$15,000,000	General And/or Program Support - Donor Advised Funds	Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia (JFGP)
Houston Symphony Society	$13,040,452	Loan Garantee	Houston Symphony Endowment
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)	$12,900,590	RTL	Corporation for Public Broadcasting

See all grants to arts, culture, and humanities nonprofits

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, culture, and humanities nonprofits" category for this page is determined by the "A00: Arts, Culture, and Humanities: General" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.