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Arts Council for Monterey County at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Arts Council for Monterey County

The council promotes and supports education, appreciation and excellence in the arts in monterey county by fostering cultural awareness and understanding.

$456k
Granted FY2025still arriving
37
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$18k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$804kHealth$17kYouth Development$14kEducation$12kAnimals$9kHuman Services$9kFood & Nutrition$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 37 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 37 grants below total $291,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $455,750 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $164,750 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k32 grants · $226k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $65k
$7,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ACTION COUNCIL OF MONTEREY COUNTY$18,000
ALISAL CENTER FOR THE FINE ARTS$14,000
PALENKE ARTS$12,000
NEW CANON THEATRE COMPANY$11,000
MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL$10,000
FIRST NIGHT MONTEREY$9,500
MONTEREY COUNTY DANCE FOUNDATION$8,500
CARL CHERRY FOUNDATION$8,500
TONATIUH DANZANTES DEL QUINTO SOL$8,500
SOL TREASURES INC$8,500
YOUTH ARTS COLLECTIVE INC$7,500
CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL$7,500
UNITED WAY OF MONTEREY COUNTY$7,500
SALINAS VALLEY ARTS & INNOVATION HUB$7,000
ARTISTIC-CIVIC LEAGUE UNITED$7,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY24–25, $16k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PRUNEDALE SENIOR CENTER: $9k → 12%COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUTH: $7k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$576k · 27 repeat orgs$306k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +2% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

27 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
26

Total granted

$576k
$203k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
+1%

Still filing today

96%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $104k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyHealthHuman ServicesAnimalsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • PA
    Palenke Arts
    5× · 2021–2025 · $47k · revenue +711%
  • NC
    NEW CANON THEATRE COMPANY
    3× · 2023–2025 · $39k · revenue +61%
  • FN
    FIRST NIGHT MONTEREY
    4× · 2021–2025 · $31k · revenue +84%

Funded once

  • BS
    Big Sur Fiddle Camp
    one grant, 2022 · $14k · revenue 0%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $13k
  • CC
    CARL CHERRY CENTER FOR ARTS
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Midsummer Mozart Festival

The only music festival in North America dedicated to Mozart, our mission embraces both performance of highest artistic excellence and cultivation of new potential audience, including young people to assure the future appreciation of great…

Arts & Culture
2
Occidental Center for the Arts

Occidental Center for the Arts exists to provide a welcoming and accessible venue for the performing and visual arts in Sonoma County California for local regional national and international artists. our mission is to enrich our community…

Arts & Culture
3
Monterey Peninsula Ballet Theatre Corp

Fostering the passion and development of local youth through the performing arts, where talents and life skills may grow in an inspiring and nurturing environment.

Arts & Culture
4
Mozart Youth Camerata

Musaics of the Bays main program services involve our residency programs which bring together groups of emerging and established artists musicians and composers to Berkeley CA for a week of direct and intensive collaboration and shared…

Arts & Culture
5
San Jose Chamber Music Society

To present chamber music concerts in San Jose performed by top ensembles from the Bay Area, across America, and around the world. To enrich our audience experience through post-concert Q&As, program notes, and meet-the-composer…

—
6
Monterey Bay Chinese Association

Provide Chinese Culture and Help to Advance social, economic well-being of Chinese American at Monterey Bay, California.

Arts & Culture
7
The Sea Ranch Thespians
Arts & Culture
8
Marin Dance Theatre

to nurture and sustain the art, technique and expression of classical ballet and contemporary dance for students of all ages through exceptional training and education, unique and exciting choreography, (CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)

Arts & Culture
9
Marin School of the Arts Foundation

Our mission is to create opportunities for Marin School of the Arts to innovate and support a quality arts education experience for all of its students.

Education
10
San Lorenzo Valley Mountain Community Theater
Arts & Culture
11
Carmel Music Society

Carmel Music Society presents classical music performances since 1927 on the Monterey Peninsula and to foster the appreciation of music across the community.

Arts & Culture
12
The California Theatre of Santa Rosa

To champion the performing arts in Santa Rosa for all. To connect people with one another and with art that can enrich their lives. To embrace people from all backgrounds. To provide exceptional service to our resident companies and to…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Monterey Museum of Art; the most unlike its peers is Franklin Legacy Fund. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

54 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 54 of the 68 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/54
Grantees still filing
23/54
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Palenke Arts: $47,130 · Arts & CulturePalenke ArtsMonterey Jazz Festival: $44,400 · Arts & CultureMonterey Jazz FestivalNEW CANON THEATRE COMPANY: $38,525 · Arts & CultureNEW CANON THEATRE COMPANYALISAL CENTER FOR THE FINE ARTS: $32,650 · Arts & CultureALISAL CENTER FOR THE FINE ARTSFIRST NIGHT MONTEREY: $31,050 · Arts & CultureFIRST NIGHT MONTEREYSOL TREASURES INC: $27,600 · Arts & CultureMUSIKIWEST INC: $23,650 · Arts & CultureCARL CHERRY FOUNDATION: $23,300 · Arts & CultureHIJOS DEL SOL ARTS PRODUCTIONS: $21,750 · Arts & CultureARTS HABITAT INC: $21,650 · Arts & CultureMONTEREY MUSEUM OF ART: $20,000 · Arts & CultureCARMEL DANCE FESTIVAL: $19,950 · Arts & Culture+21 more: $206,630 · Arts & Culture+21 moreMONTEREY COUNTY DANCE FOUNDATION: $16,000 · OtherMONTEREY COUNTY DANCE FO…SALINAS VALLEY PRIDE CELEBRATIONS: $14,350 · OtherSALINAS VALLEY PRIDE CEL…Individual grant recipient: $13,150 · OtherIndividual grant recipie…CARL CHERRY CENTER FOR ARTS: $10,000 · OtherI CANTORI DI CARMEL: $9,900 · OtherMO CO AG & RURAL LIFE MUSEUM: $9,800 · OtherARIA WOMENS CHOIR: $9,550 · OtherPACIFIC REPERTORY THEATRE: $9,100 · OtherFRANKLIN LEGACY FUND: $9,050 · OtherBIG SUR FIDDLE CAMP: $9,050 · OtherCONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL: $7,500 · OtherENCHANTRIX: $7,100 · OtherARTISTIC-CIVIC LEAGUE UNITED: $7,000 · OtherURBAN ARTS COLLABORATIVE: $6,650 · OtherEducational Resources of Monterey County Hidden Hills Ranch: $6,500 · OtherMILPA: $6,500 · OtherSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $6,500 · OtherBoys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County: $7,000 · Other+5 more: $25,000 · Other+5 moreAction Council of Monterey County Inc: $43,953 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF MONTEREY COUNTY: $12,500 · PhilanthropyMonterey Peninsula College Foundation: $11,500 · EducationHARTNELL COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $7,000 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIPS: $6,650 · EducationSALINAS AREA READING FOR FUN PROGRAM: $6,500 · EducationTHE YORK SCHOOL: $5,000 · EducationNATIVIDAD MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $11,500 · HealthMONTEREY BAY POWER OVER PARKINSONS INC: $5,000 · HealthPRUNEDALE SENIOR CENTER INC: $8,800 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUTH: $7,000 · Human ServicesWONDER WOOD RANCH: $9,200 · Animals
Arts & Culture$558,285Other$189,700Philanthropy$56,453Education$36,650Health$16,500Human Services$15,800Animals$9,200

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPalenke Arts: $47,130 over 5y, 5.7% of budgetMonterey Jazz Festival: $44,400 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAction Council of Monterey County Inc: $43,953 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNEW CANON THEATRE COMPANY: $38,525 over 3y, 12% of budgetALISAL CENTER FOR THE FINE ARTS: $32,650 over 3y, 8.2% of budgetFIRST NIGHT MONTEREY: $31,050 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetSOL TREASURES INC: $27,600 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetMUSIKIWEST INC: $23,650 over 3y, 19% of budgetCARL CHERRY FOUNDATION: $23,300 over 3y, 7.5% of budgetHIJOS DEL SOL ARTS PRODUCTIONS: $21,750 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetARTS HABITAT INC: $21,650 over 3y, 9.6% of budgetMONTEREY MUSEUM OF ART: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCARMEL DANCE FESTIVAL: $19,950 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetMONTEREY COUNTY DANCE FOUNDATION: $16,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetSPECTORDANCE: $15,350 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetMONTEREY COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOC INC: $14,600 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $14,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBig Sur Fiddle Camp: $14,450 over 1y, 20% of budgetYOUTH ARTS COLLECTIVE INC: $12,500 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MONTEREY COUNTY: $12,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYOUTH MUSIC MONTEREY: $12,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetCHAMBER MUSIC MONTEREY BAY: $12,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetCarmel Bach Festival Inc: $11,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMONTEREY COUNTY POPS: $11,500 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetMonterey Peninsula College Foundation: $11,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNATIVIDAD MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $11,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMUSEUM FOUNDATION OF PACIFIC GROVE INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetI CANTORI DI CARMEL: $9,900 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetFesta Italia Foundation: $9,250 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetWONDER WOOD RANCH: $9,200 over 1y, 10% of budgetPACIFIC REPERTORY THEATRE: $9,100 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPRUNEDALE SENIOR CENTER INC: $8,800 over 1y, 10% of budgetTONATIUH-DANZANTES DEL QUINTO SOL: $8,500 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetMONTEREY COUNTY YOUTH MUSEUM: $7,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetThe Lyceum of Monterey County: $7,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County: $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSUNSET CULTURAL CENTER INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHARTNELL COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIPS: $6,650 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSALINAS AREA READING FOR FUN PROGRAM: $6,500 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetART ABILITIES: $6,500 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetAROMAS HILLS ARTISANS: $6,500 over 1y, 31% of budgetNATIVE CALIFORNIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $6,500 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetEducational Resources of Monterey County Hidden Hills Ranch: $6,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetEL SISTEMA USASALINAS INC: $5,980 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMONTEREY BAY POWER OVER PARKINSONS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE YORK SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPACIFIC GROVE HIGH SCHOOL BREAKERS CLUB: $5,000 over 1y, 23% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Monterey Peninsula Fo…Nancy Buck Ransom Fou…Barnet Segal Charitab…Pebble Beach Company …The David and Lucile …Alexander F Victor Fo…William McCaskey Chap…Community Hospital of…Dunspaugh Dalton Foun…The James Irvine Foun…Nancy Eccles and Home…Monterey Peninsula Th…
Monterey Peninsula FoundationCA64.2× affinity29 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Monterey Peninsula Foundation · Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation · Barnet Segal Charitable Trust · Pebble Beach Company Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Alexander F Victor Foundation · William McCaskey Chapman and Adaline Dinsmore Chapman Foundation · Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula · Dunspaugh Dalton Foundation Inc · The James Irvine Foundation · Nancy Eccles and Homer M Hayward Family Foundation · Monterey Peninsula Theatre Trust

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Arts Council for Monterey County funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Arts Council for Monterey County. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 68 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Arts Council for Monterey County’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home