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Arts Council of Fairfax County Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Arts Council of Fairfax County Inc

Artsfairfax is dedicated to expanding support for and access to arts and culture opportunities for all of fairfax county.

$810k
Granted FY2025still arriving
33
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$66k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$4.2MPublic Safety & Disaster$352kYouth Development$106kReligion$68kEmployment$52kHuman Services$48kEducation$46kHealth$41kOther$0
02FY2025 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 33 grants below total $717,569, the rows itemized in this filing. The $809,726 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $92,157 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 $10k11 grants · $73k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $410k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $235k
$14,296
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEXTSTOP THEATRE COMPANY$66,080
MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS (MPA)$61,212
1ST STAGE$55,539
TEPHRA INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART (TEPHRA ICA)$52,158
CREATIVE CAULDRON$46,056
WORKHOUSE ARTS CENTER$40,124
TRAVELING PLAYERS ENSEMBLE INC$40,118
BALLETNOVA CENTER FOR DANCE$37,198
AMERICAN YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRAS$36,046
FAIRFAX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$26,974
MUSIC FOR LIFE$18,967
CITY OF FAIRFAX BAND ASSOCIATION INC$18,743
FALL FOR THE BOOK INC$17,556
WE ROCK CANCER$17,106
IRANIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY CENTER$16,972
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 (FY17–20, $68k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 5%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 5%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $21k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $20k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $15k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $13k → 6%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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.8M · 47 repeat orgs$92k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against -4% for those funded once.

47 repeat relationships: 31 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

47
7

Total granted

$4.8M
$71k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
-4%

Still filing today

91%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentHealthOther
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

  • 1S
    1ST STAGE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $410k · revenue +264%
  • TE
    The Elden Street Players DBA NextStop Theatre Co
    9× · 2017–2025 · $378k · revenue +36%
  • MP
    MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS
    9× · 2017–2025 · $336k · revenue +555%

Funded once

  • MO
    MCLEAN ORCHESTRA
    one grant, 2017 · $17k · revenue -85%
  • FF
    Fall for the Book Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $13k · revenue +3%
  • CB
    CLASSICAL BALLET THEATRE INC
    one grant, 2018 · $11k · revenue -4%
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
Maryland Lyric Opera
Arts & Culture
2
Great Falls Philharmonic

The Great Falls Philharmonics mission is to enrich the cultural landscape of northern Fairfax county by providing exceptional orchestral performances and engaging educational programs while fostering a deep connection between music and…

Arts & Culture
3
Virginia Chorale

To foster enjoyment and education about chorale art and perform choral music by the highest caliber of professional singers.

—
4
Alexandria Singers

The Alexandria Singers is a non-profit education and mixed voice choral group that performs predominately American popular music, including pop tunes, show tunes, golden oldies, country and jazz - the only one of its kind in the Washington…

Arts & Culture
5
Opera Nova

Produce Opera for Children and to introduce the arts to young adults

Philanthropy
6
Vanguard Concerts
—
7
Georgetown Community Chorale

The Georgetown Chorale is a 100-voice chorus of singers from across the D.C. metro area. Our all-volunteer ensemble includes singers of widely ranging age, experience and background who embrace the challenge of performing classical choral…

—
8
Washington Community Theatre

Provide a low cost theatre options for the community of washington

Arts & Culture
9
Philharmonia Northwest

Philharmonia Northwest contributes to the vitality of the classical music community in the Pacific Northwest by presenting professional concerts highlighting the diverse past and present repertoire for chamber orchestra. It is also…

Arts & Culture
10
Constellations Chamber Concerts

Present a chamber music concert series and organize ancillary educational and community engagement activities and partnerships in the Washington, DC area.

Arts & Culture
11
Warminster Symphony Society

Performs classical music for the community

—
12
4615 Theater Company Inc

Our mission is offer theatrical productions.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mclean Orchestra; the most unlike its peers is Korean American Association of Greater. 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

51 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 51 of the 56 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)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
48/51
Grantees still filing
27/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

1ST STAGE INC: $410,358 · Arts & Culture1ST STAGE INCThe Elden Street Players DBA NextStop Theatre Co: $378,471 · Arts & CultureThe Elden Street Players DBA NextStop Theatre CoMCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS: $336,496 · Arts & CultureMCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTSCreative Cauldron Inc: $326,663 · Arts & CultureCreative Cauldron IncAMERICAN YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRAS: $318,241 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRASTRAVELING PLAYERS ENSEMBLE INC: $308,020 · Arts & CultureTRAVELING PLAYERS ENSEMBLE INCTEPHRA INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $272,484 · Arts & CultureTEPHRA INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTWorkhouse Arts Foundation Inc: $223,012 · Arts & CultureWorkhouse Arts Foundation IncFairfax Symphony Orchestra: $164,680 · Arts & Culture+29 more: $1,203,603 · Arts & Culture+29 moreBALLETNOVA CENTER FOR DANCE: $285,648 · OtherBALLETNOVA CEN…THE RESTON CHORALE: $90,366 · OtherTHE RESTON CHO…MVLE INC: $51,707 · OtherMVLE INCARTS HERNDON INC: $49,800 · OtherARTS HERNDON I…FAIRFAX CHORAL SOCIETY INC: $46,153 · OtherFAIRFAX CHORAL…GIN DANCE COMPANY INC: $31,459 · Other+7 more: $79,487 · Other+7 moreCITY OF FAIRFAX BAND ASSOCIATION INC: $141,426 · EducationTinner Hill Heritage Foundation Inc: $13,197 · EducationMUSIC FOR LIFE: $106,191 · Youth DevelopmentJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $68,355 · Human ServicesWE ROCK CANCER: $31,590 · Health
Arts & Culture$3,942,028Other$634,620Education$154,623Youth Development$106,191Human Services$68,355Health$31,590

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 budget1ST STAGE INC: $410,358 over 9y, 5.7% of budgetThe Elden Street Players DBA NextStop Theatre Co: $378,471 over 9y, 12% of budgetMCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS: $336,496 over 9y, 6.1% of budgetCreative Cauldron Inc: $326,663 over 9y, 6.3% of budgetAMERICAN YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRAS: $318,241 over 9y, 5.8% of budgetTRAVELING PLAYERS ENSEMBLE INC: $308,020 over 9y, 9.6% of budgetBALLETNOVA CENTER FOR DANCE: $285,648 over 9y, 3.6% of budgetTEPHRA INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $272,484 over 8y, 10% of budgetWorkhouse Arts Foundation Inc: $223,012 over 9y, 1.8% of budgetFairfax Symphony Orchestra: $164,680 over 7y, 4.0% of budgetCITY OF FAIRFAX BAND ASSOCIATION INC: $141,426 over 9y, 9.4% of budgetPUBLIC ART RESTON: $112,882 over 8y, 16% of budgetMUSIC FOR LIFE: $106,191 over 7y, 11% of budgetTHE CHORALIS FOUNDATION: $103,539 over 8y, 13% of budgetMOUNT VERNON COMMUNITY CHILDREN'S THEATR: $98,765 over 7y, 19% of budgetWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $96,334 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RESTON CHORALE: $90,366 over 8y, 12% of budgetVienna Jammers Percussion Ensemble Inc: $89,726 over 9y, 7.0% of budgetWASHINGTON WEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: $76,184 over 7y, 7.7% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $68,355 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetACTING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE INC: $67,426 over 6y, 20% of budgetCity of Fairfax Theater Company: $53,745 over 5y, 7.8% of budgetMVLE INC: $51,707 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetARTS HERNDON INC: $49,800 over 4y, 8.9% of budgetIRANIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $47,596 over 3y, 9.6% of budgetNEW DOMINION CHORALE INC: $44,372 over 5y, 11% of budgetVIRGINIA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: $42,371 over 6y, 13% of budgetRESTON COMMUNITY PLAYERS INC: $38,373 over 4y, 7.3% of budgetPROVIDENCE PLAYERS OF FAIRFAX: $34,414 over 4y, 23% of budgetWE ROCK CANCER: $31,590 over 2y, 23% of budgetArtists in Motion: $29,650 over 3y, 5.2% of budgetTHE CAPPIES INC: $27,226 over 4y, 27% of budgetMOSAIC HARMONY: $25,093 over 4y, 8.5% of budgetTHE AMADEUS CONCERTS INC: $20,888 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetVIENNA ARTS SOCIETY INC: $18,162 over 2y, 22% of budgetMCLEAN ORCHESTRA: $16,512 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetCappies of The National Capital Area: $16,439 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetVIRGINIA BALLET COMPANY & SCHOOL: $16,147 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetVIRGINIA OPERA ASSOCIATION INC: $15,211 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVIRGINIA WINDS ACADEMY INC: $14,243 over 2y, 10% of budgetFALLS CHURCH ARTS INC: $13,913 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetTinner Hill Heritage Foundation Inc: $13,197 over 2y, 24% of budgetFall for the Book Inc: $12,547 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetVIENNA CHORAL SOCIETY OF N VA: $11,091 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetCLASSICAL BALLET THEATRE INC: $10,766 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetTHE FAIRFAX BALLET COMPANY: $10,399 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetKOREAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER: $7,188 over 1y, 1.4% 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.

  • Who funds 1ST STAGE INC ↗
  • Who funds The Elden Street Players DBA NextStop Theatre Co ↗
  • Who funds MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds Creative Cauldron Inc ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN YOUTH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRAS ↗
  • Who funds TRAVELING PLAYERS ENSEMBLE INC ↗
  • Who funds BALLETNOVA CENTER FOR DANCE ↗
  • Who funds TEPHRA INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
  • Who funds Workhouse Arts Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds Fairfax Symphony Orchestra ↗
  • Who funds CITY OF FAIRFAX BAND ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PUBLIC ART RESTON ↗
  • Who funds MUSIC FOR LIFE ↗
  • Who funds THE CHORALIS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MOUNT VERNON COMMUNITY CHILDREN'S THEATR ↗
  • Who funds WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ↗
  • Who funds THE RESTON CHORALE ↗
  • Who funds Vienna Jammers Percussion Ensemble Inc ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON WEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC ↗
  • Who funds ACTING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE DAILY POETRY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds City of Fairfax Theater Company ↗
  • Who funds MVLE INC ↗
  • Who funds ARTS HERNDON INC ↗
  • Who funds IRANIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds FAIRFAX CHORAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW DOMINION CHORALE INC ↗
  • Who funds VIRGINIA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ↗
  • Who funds RESTON COMMUNITY PLAYERS INC ↗
  • Who funds PROVIDENCE PLAYERS OF FAIRFAX ↗
  • Who funds WE ROCK CANCER ↗
  • Who funds Artists in Motion ↗
  • Who funds THE CAPPIES INC ↗
  • Who funds MOSAIC HARMONY ↗
  • Who funds THE AMADEUS CONCERTS INC ↗
  • Who funds VIENNA ARTS SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds MCLEAN ORCHESTRA ↗
  • Who funds Cappies of The National Capital Area ↗

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.

Latino Economic Devel…The Community Foundat…Dimick Foundation Joh…Dominion Energy Chari…Greater Washington Co…Network for GoodThe Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Vanguard Charitable E…Amazonsmile FoundationFidelity Investments …American Online Givin…
Latino Economic Development CorporationDC31.3× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Latino Economic Development Corporation · The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Inc · Dimick Foundation John M Lynham Jr Trustee · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Greater Washington Community Foundation · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Amazonsmile Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 of Fairfax County Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Arts Council of Fairfax County Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 56 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 of Fairfax 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