Grants for visitor and convention bureaus

Name: Top 23 grants made to convention centers and visitor bureaus
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

59 convention centers and visitor bureaus received at least $35.7 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 23 grants made from 22 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $2,000. Of these 22 foundations, 95% made just a single grant to visitor bureaus, and 0% made grants to four or more visitor bureaus. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$35,666,302

Total grant dollars given to visitor and convention bureaus

Number of grants made annually to visitor and convention bureaus

Number of grantmakers funding visitor and convention bureaus

$2,000

Median grant size to visitor and convention bureaus

Foundations that support convention centers and visitor bureaus

Out of all grants made to visitor and convention bureaus, 54% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 99% of the dollar-value of grants to visitor bureaus. Foundations funding visitor bureaus also made grants to scholarship organizations, multiservice human service organizations, economic development organizations, performing arts centers, and colleges.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	12
Medium	5
Large	5

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	2
Private	11
Corporate	2
Other	7

Grants made

Grants made to visitor bureaus	Number of grantmakers
1	21
2-3	1
4-10	0
11+	0

Top 10 foundations supporting convention centers and visitor bureaus

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to visitor bureaus	Number of grants made to visitor bureaus	Median grant size
Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy	DE	Regional	3.4%	2	$1,750
San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD)	CA	Metro	95.6%	1	$35,614,292
Xterra Foundation	MN	Metro	20.2%	1	$5,000
Dubuque Racing Association	IA	Metro	0.5%	1	$5,000
The Columbus Foundation	OH	State	0.0%	1	$5,000
University of Iowa Community Credit Union	IA	State	0.5%	1	$5,000
Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque	IA	State	0.1%	1	$5,000
The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes	NY	Metro	20.0%	1	$5,000
Ivy Tech Foundation	IN	Metro	0.1%	1	$5,000
Foundation for Individual Liberty	NJ	National	0.3%	1	$2,500

See all grantmaking to visitor and convention bureaus

Convention centers and visitor bureaus grantees

Visitor and convention bureaus with more than $5 million in total revenues received 99% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 9% of all visitor bureaus.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	22
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	1

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$500
$100k-$500k	$2,500
$500k-$1M	$2,629
$1M-$5M	$2,050
>$5M	$17.8 million

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
Massachusetts	5
Iowa	4
Ohio	2
New York	2
Other	10

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Boston	5
Elmira	2
Dubuque	2
San Diego	1
Other	9

Top 25 grants made to visitor and convention bureaus

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
San Diego Tourism Authority / San Diego Convention and Tourist Bureau	$35,614,292	Psa 1	San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD)
GOAL Foundation	$5,000	General Operating Support	Xterra Foundation
Dubuque Area Convention and Visitors Bureau	$5,000	Conference Room Av System	Dubuque Racing Association
Indian Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau	$5,000	Arts and Humanities	The Columbus Foundation
Go Cedar Rapids	$5,000	General Support	University of Iowa Community Credit Union
Dubuque Area Convention and Visitors Bureau	$5,000	Community Support	Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque
Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau	$5,000	Decentralization Grant	The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes
Visit Indy	$5,000	To Further the Educational Mission of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana.	Ivy Tech Foundation
Philadelphia Hospitality	$2,500	Assistance for Charitable Purpose	Foundation for Individual Liberty
Tourism Cares	$2,500	General & Unrestricted	Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy
Tourism Cares	$2,436	Charitable	Vic and Vicki Weinstein Family Foundation
TCC&VB Education Foundation	$2,000	Ucc	Bernard and Mary Ann Powell Foundation Foundation
Howard County Tourism Council	$1,665	Holiday Promotion for Old Ellicott City	Patapsco Heritage Greenway
Andersonville Guild	$1,000	Preserve Historic Site	Roy L Parker Family Foundation
Tourism Cares	$1,000	Gen'l Charitable	Michael Chernow Trust fbo Charity CCC
Tourism Cares	$1,000	General Exempt Purpose	Arthur J Gallagher Foundation
Tourism Cares	$1,000	Special Project - the Jordan Trail	Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy
River District Association	$750	Charitable	Stenstrom Foundation
Michigan Cares for Tourism	$500	Michigan Cares for Tourism Event	Greater Lansing Destination Development Foundation
Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau	$259	Hardship Assistance Grant	The Barbara and Stephen Miller Foundation
Visit Dana Point	$200	Education	Sempra Energy Foundation
Keokuk Area Convention Center and Tourism Bureau Foundation	$200	Matching Gifts	Alliant Energy Foundation
Spirit of Cleveland	$0	Fair Market Value	Destination Cleveland

See all grants to visitor and convention bureaus

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 "Visitor and convention bureaus" category for this page is determined by the "S33: Visitors, Convention Bureau" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.