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· Public charity

Artsbuild

ARTSBUILD provides general operating and project support grants to local arts organizations, community groups and individual artists; arts education programs; and arts leadership programs all towards the goal of increasing access to the arts with more arts in more places.

$1.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$94k
Largest
01What it funds
0199% 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$7.3MYouth Development$47kAnimals$17kCommunity Improvement$14kPhilanthropy$10kEnvironment$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 24 grants below total $601,400, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,517,674 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $916,274 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 $10k9 grants · $73k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $178k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $351k
$12,880
Median grant
1
States reached
$20M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART$94,000
CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA$93,820
CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM$83,000
CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE$80,000
CHATTANOOGA BALLET$40,000
CHATTANOOGA BOYS CHOIR$19,000
SONG BIRDS FOUNDATION INC$15,700
SPLASH$15,150
THE POP-UP PROJECT$15,000
SCENIC CITY CLAY ARTS$14,000
EAST LAKE EXPRESSION ENGINE$13,000
BE THE CHANGE YOUTH INITIATIVE$12,880
ASSOCIATION FOR VISUAL ARTS$12,000
SOUNDCORP$11,000
STOVE WORKS$10,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $95k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $80k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $80k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $80k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $80k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $78k → 14%CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE: $75k → 14%Chattanooga Theatre Centre: $64k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $40k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $40k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $35k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $35k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $35k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $30k → 14%CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $28k → 14%Chattanooga Ballet: $27k → 14%BALLET TENNESSEE: $27k → 14%BALLET TENNESSEE: $26k → 14%Ballet Tennessee: $22k → 14%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $266k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $260k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $260k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $250k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $250k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $246k → 12%Hunter Museum of Art - Endowment: $150k → 12%Hunter Museum of Art: $138k → 12%HUNTER MUSEUM OF ART: $94k → 12%SCENIC CITY CLAY ARTS: $22k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY AND OPERA ASSOCIATION: $250k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA: $246k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY AND OPERA ASSOCIATION: $240k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA: $238k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA: $233k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY AND OPERA ASSOCIATION: $232k → 12%Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Association: $135k → 12%Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Association - Endowment: $135k → 12%CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA: $94k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $87k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $86k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $83k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $83k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $83k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $79k → 12%CREATIVE DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $73k → 12%Creative Discovery Museum: $64k → 12%CHATTANOOGA BOYS CHOIR: $22k → 12%CHATTANOOGA BOYS CHOIR: $22k → 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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.2M · 28 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 24 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
26

Total granted

$6.2M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
0%

Still filing today

89%
15%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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 & CultureYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentOther
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

  • HM
    Hunter Museum of American Art
    8× · 2018–2025 · $1.8M · revenue +127%
  • CS
    CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA ASSOCIATION
    8× · 2018–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +21%
  • CT
    CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $632k · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • HM
    Hunter Museum of Art
    one grant, 2017 · $200k
  • CS
    Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Association
    one grant, 2017 · $200k
  • HM
    Hunter Museum of Art - Endowment
    2× · 2017–2018 · $150k
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
Artworks Community Arts Education C
—
2
Sumter County Fine Arts Council

Cultural enrichment through arts programs

Arts & Culture
3
Atlanta Contempory Art Center Inc

Dedicated to the creation, presentation and advancement of contemporary art through its exhibitions, educational programming and studio art program.

Arts & Culture
4
Connecting Through the Arts and Edu
—
5
Jazzarts Charlotte

JazzArts Charlotte's (JazzArts) mission is connecting the cultural community and developing an audience for jazz through quality education, performance and musician support. JazzArts' vision is to be a catalyst for cultural enrichment and…

Arts & Culture
6
Arts Southeast Inc

To make savannah a destination for art and culture in the southeast by supporting established and emerging artists, engaging a diverse community with creative programming, and developing awareness and appreciation of the arts.

Arts & Culture
7
Rise Chattanooga

The mission of RISE Chattanooga is to provide an array of cultural arts programming to create new opportunities for creative experimentation and community empowerment in Chattanooga.

Arts & Culture
8
Creative Aging Memphis

Improve quality of life for seniors by stimulating their minds, creativity, and sense of self through arts programs that engage, educate, and entertain.

Arts & Culture
9
Community Arts Association in Newton County Inc

The mission of the arts association in newton county is to encourage youth and adults in the community to participate in the arts both as audience and as artists and to present world-class artists to all the citizens of the metro atlanta…

Arts & Culture
10
Locate Arts Tn

Tri-Star Arts serves Tennessee by cultivating and spotlighting the contemporary visual art scenes in each region while fostering a unified state-wide art scene. Tri-Star Arts programs promote art dialogue between the different cities in…

Community Improvement
11
Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center

The MACCs mission is to collect, preserve and interpret local and regional art, and present exhibits of regional, national and international importance. History, arts, education, and community are our focus.

Arts & Culture
12
Lake Geneva Art Museum

art education

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Bessie Smith Cultural Center; the most unlike its peers is Mngk Garvey Program. 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

33 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. 33 of the 54 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/33
Grantees still filing
18/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Hunter Museum of American Art: $1,763,071 · Arts & CultureHunter Museum of American ArtCHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA ASSOCIATION: $1,667,410 · Arts & CultureCHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA ASSOCIATIONCreative Discovery Museum: $637,000 · Arts & CultureCreative Discovery Museum+20 more: $1,014,023 · Arts & Culture+20 moreCHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE INC: $631,675 · OtherCHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE INCTHE CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $269,360 · OtherTHE CHATTANOOGA BALLETHunter Museum of Art: $200,000 · OtherHunter Museum of ArtChattanooga Symphony & Opera Association: $200,000 · OtherChattanooga Symphony & Opera Assoc…Hunter Museum of Art - Endowment: $149,624 · OtherHunter Museum of Art - EndowmentChattanooga Symphony & Opera Association - Endowment: $134,796 · OtherChattanooga Symphony & Opera Assoc…Chattanooga Theatre Centre: $106,400 · OtherCreative Discovery Museum: $85,500 · Other+20 more: $479,172 · Other+20 moreBe The Change Youth Initiative: $26,530 · Youth DevelopmentTHE CHATTERY: $14,484 · Community ImprovementREFLECTION RIDING ARBORETUM AND NATURE CENTER: $5,600 · Environment
Arts & Culture$5,081,504Other$2,256,527Youth Development$26,530Community Improvement$14,484Environment$5,600

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHunter Museum of American Art: $1,763,071 over 8y, 9.1% of budgetCHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA ASSOCIATION: $1,667,410 over 8y, 20% of budgetCreative Discovery Museum: $637,000 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetCHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE INC: $631,675 over 8y, 9.3% of budgetTHE CHATTANOOGA BALLET: $269,360 over 8y, 7.2% of budgetCHATTANOOGA BOYS CHOIR: $158,870 over 8y, 11% of budgetTHE POP-UP PROJECT: $85,250 over 5y, 8.8% of budgetSCENIC CITY CLAY ARTS: $85,195 over 6y, 3.9% of budgetSPLASH: $85,090 over 7y, 6.9% of budgetART120: $76,091 over 7y, 20% of budgetBALLET TENNESSEE INC: $74,270 over 3y, 11% of budgetEAST LAKE EXPRESSION ENGINE: $73,765 over 7y, 5.3% of budgetSOUTHERN LIT ALLIANCE: $69,400 over 7y, 15% of budgetSOUNDCORPS INC: $65,878 over 7y, 6.1% of budgetTHE BESSIE SMITH CULTURAL CENTER: $56,825 over 7y, 1.4% of budgetCONTEMPORARY PERFORMING ARTS OF CHATTANOOGA INC: $56,140 over 6y, 16% of budgetSONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC: $53,300 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetASSOCIATION FOR VISUAL ARTISTS: $52,750 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetSTOVE WORKS: $49,290 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetHART GALLERY TN: $34,320 over 3y, 16% of budgetBe The Change Youth Initiative: $26,530 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetHOUSTON MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS: $25,002 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetDYNAMO STUDIOS: $22,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetCHATTANOOGA GIRLS CHOIR: $19,415 over 3y, 9.8% of budgetTHE CHATTERY: $14,484 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetSCULPTURE FIELDS AT MONTAGUE PARK: $12,750 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetNEXT EXIT PRODUCTIONS: $12,500 over 2y, 57% of budgetUNITY PERFORMING ARTS FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 2y, 28% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF GREATER CHATTANOOGA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMNGK Garvey Program: $7,412 over 1y, 30% of budgetSHAKING RAY LEVI SOCIETY INC: $6,500 over 1y, 32% of budgetDOORS OPEN JAZZ INC: $6,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetREFLECTION RIDING ARBORETUM AND NATURE CENTER: $5,600 over 1y, 0.2% 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 Hunter Museum of American Art ↗
  • Who funds CHATTANOOGA SYMPHONY & OPERA ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Creative Discovery Museum ↗
  • Who funds CHATTANOOGA THEATRE CENTRE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CHATTANOOGA BALLET ↗
  • Who funds CHATTANOOGA BOYS CHOIR ↗
  • Who funds THE POP-UP PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds SCENIC CITY CLAY ARTS ↗
  • Who funds SPLASH ↗
  • Who funds ART120 ↗
  • Who funds BALLET TENNESSEE INC ↗
  • Who funds EAST LAKE EXPRESSION ENGINE ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN LIT ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds SOUNDCORPS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BESSIE SMITH CULTURAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CONTEMPORARY PERFORMING ARTS OF CHATTANOOGA INC ↗
  • Who funds SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ASSOCIATION FOR VISUAL ARTISTS ↗
  • Who funds STOVE WORKS ↗
  • Who funds HART GALLERY TN ↗
  • Who funds Be The Change Youth Initiative ↗
  • Who funds HOUSTON MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds DYNAMO STUDIOS ↗
  • Who funds CHATTANOOGA GIRLS CHOIR ↗
  • Who funds THE CHATTERY ↗

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.

Lyndhurst Foundation IncTN38.7× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lyndhurst Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga Inc · Robert F Stone Foundation AKA Bobby Stone Foundation · Benwood Foundation Inc · Footprint Foundation Inc · Chattanooga Christian Community Foundation · The Chattanooga Tourism Foundation · Humanities Tennessee · The Hacker and Kitty Caldwell Family Foundation Inc · George R Johnson Family Foundation · Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation · McKenzie Foundation D/B/A the McKenzie Foundation

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 Artsbuild funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Artsbuild. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%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
    14report 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 54 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

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