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Equity in the Arts Fund at a glance

· Public charity

Equity in the Arts Fund

The organization is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit, of and to carry out the charitable and educational functions of the cleveland foundation.

$214k
Granted FY2023
10
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$45k
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, FY2020 to 2023.

Arts & Culture$654kCommunity Improvement$93kHealth$38kEducation$35kYouth Development$30kEnvironment$27kHuman Services$20kScience & Tech$15k
02FY2023 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$22,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$5.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ASSEMBLY FOR THE ARTS$45,000
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH WATCH INC$27,000
BALANCE POINT STUDIOS$27,000
E66TH STREET SERVICES$23,000
BUCK OUT FOUNDATION$22,000
PEEL DEM LAYERS BACK$15,000
DUFFY LITURGICAL DANCE ENSEMBLE$15,000
DJAPO CULTURAL ARTS INSTITUTE INC$15,000
LIFE EXCHANGE CENTER$15,000
LATINUS THEATER EXPERIENCE COMPANY$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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–22, $23k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 15%ELIZA BRYANT VILLAGE: $13k → 17%AFRICAHOUSE INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 17%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 7% of Equity in the Arts Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 98% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 89%.

Equity in the Arts Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.7% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

54%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$495k · 12 repeat orgs$417k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +70% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
22

Total granted

$495k
$311k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+70%
0%

Still filing today

100%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $106k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationHealthCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • AF
    ASSEMBLY FOR THE ARTS
    3× · 2020–2023 · $115k · revenue +487%
  • DL
    DUFFY LITURGICAL DANCE ENSEMBLE
    3× · 2020–2023 · $50k · revenue +70%
  • JD
    JULIA DE BURGOS CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
    2× · 2020–2022 · $50k · revenue +43%

Funded once

  • AC
    ATNSC CENTER FOR HEALING & CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
    one grant, 2020 · $30k
  • KQ
    KINGS & QUEENS OF ART
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • AO
    ART OF ME PRODUCTIONS
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
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
The Black Literacy and Arts Collaborative Project
—
2
Center for Applied Theater and Active Culture

To establish a forum for community engagement and educational outreach through collaboration with emerging and established artists and the creation, production and presentation of a diverse array of theatre, music, dance, and exhibitions…

Arts & Culture
3
Cleveland Museum of Art

The mission of the cleveland museum of art (cma) is to fulfill its dual roles as one of the world's most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeastern ohio's principal civic and cultural institutions. the museum,…

Arts & Culture
4
The Cleveland Modern Dance Association

To be a national model for how a presenting organization serves its community, leveraging the worlds best modern and contemporary dance to inspire and educate audiences, local dancers, and community members.

—
5
Columbus Cultural Youth Orchestra
Arts & Culture
6
Dobama Theatre Inc

Dobama theatre, inc. is dedicated to premiering important new plays by established & emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. through theatrical production, community engagement, and education programming,…

Arts & Culture
7
The Sculpture Center

The sculpture center is one of the only cultural instituitons providing critical resources to sculptors along their journey through creation, exhibition, mentorship, conversation and engagement, and development and support opportunities.

Arts & Culture
8
Ohio Contemporary Ballet

Ocb ignites audience passion and participation in contemporary dance through performance, outreach programs and community engagement.

—
9
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

Moca's mission- art now, in progress - embodies our nature as a living, adaptive platform for artistic experimentation, public exchange, and civic connection. our vision - artists & art lead us to the unfamiliar, where we open and connect…

Arts & Culture
10
Equity Arts

EQUITY ARTS is a center for the creative economy that advances racial equity and wealth-building for artists and entrepreneurs. This reparative ownership model preserves space for synergistic exchanges between value-aligned partners. The…

—
11
Akron Black Artist Guild

Exclusively for charitable, religious, educational

Arts & Culture
12
Borderlight International Theater Festival

Borderlight's mission is to present visionary international theatre and build cross-cultural understanding.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Assembly for the Arts; the most unlike its peers is Latinus Theater Experience Company. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

36 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. 36 of the 39 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/36
Grantees still filing
23/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LATINUS THEATER EXPERIENCE COMPANY: $40,000 · Arts & CultureLATINUS THEATER EXPERIENCE COMPANYCLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE INC: $35,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE INCDJAPO CULTURAL ARTS INSTITUTE INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureDJAPO CULTURAL ARTS INSTITUTE INCCLEVELAND PRINT ROOM INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND PRINT ROOM INCBROADWAY SCHOOL OF MUSIC & THE ARTS: $29,000 · Arts & CultureBROADWAY SCHOOL OF MUSIC & THE ARTSFOLUKE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER INC: $27,500 · Arts & CultureFOLUKE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER INCBALANCE POINT STUDIOS: $27,000 · Arts & CultureBALANCE POINT STUDIOSGREATER CLEVELAND URBAN FILM FDN: $25,000 · Arts & CultureGREATER CLEVELAND URBAN FILM FDNMVMT Dance Co: $22,000 · Arts & CultureMVMT Dance CoNEAR WEST THEATRE INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureCOMITE MEXICANO INC: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+6 moreDUFFY LITURGICAL DANCE ENSEMBLE: $50,000 · OtherDUFFY LITURGICAL DANCE ENSEMBLEJULIA DE BURGOS CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: $50,000 · OtherJULIA DE BURGOS CULTURAL ARTS CE…ATNSC CENTER FOR HEALING & CREATIVE LEADERSHIP: $30,000 · OtherATNSC CENTER FOR HEALING & CREAT…KINGS & QUEENS OF ART: $20,000 · OtherKINGS & QUEENS OF ARTART OF ME PRODUCTIONS: $20,000 · OtherART OF ME PRODUCTIONSMARTHA AND TONYA JOHNSON LEGACY PROJECT: $20,000 · OtherMARTHA AND TONYA JOHNSON LEGACY …ESPERANZA INC: $15,000 · OtherESPERANZA INCCAMPUS DISTRICT INC: $10,000 · OtherTwelve Literary Arts: $10,000 · OtherELIZA BRYANT VILLAGE: $13,000 · OtherAFRICAHOUSE INTERNATIONAL: $10,000 · OtherTHE FAB FOUNDATION: $15,000 · OtherTHE FAB FOUNDATIONASSEMBLY FOR THE ARTS: $115,000 · Civil RightsASSEMBLY FOR T…CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationBIRTHING BEAUTIFUL COMMUNITIES: $15,000 · EducationCLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $15,000 · EducationEAST 66TH STREET SERVICES INC: $33,000 · Community ImprovementLoiter: $20,000 · Community ImprovementLife Exchange Center: $15,000 · HealthPEEL DEM LAYERS BACK: $15,000 · HealthPALS FOR HEALING: $7,500 · HealthENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH WATCH: $27,000 · Environment
Arts & Culture$355,500Other$263,000Civil Rights$115,000Education$60,000Community Improvement$53,000Health$37,500Environment$27,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetASSEMBLY FOR THE ARTS: $115,000 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetDUFFY LITURGICAL DANCE ENSEMBLE: $50,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetJULIA DE BURGOS CULTURAL ARTS CENTER: $50,000 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetLATINUS THEATER EXPERIENCE COMPANY: $40,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetCLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE INC: $35,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetEAST 66TH STREET SERVICES INC: $33,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDJAPO CULTURAL ARTS INSTITUTE INC: $30,000 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetCLEVELAND PRINT ROOM INC: $30,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetBROADWAY SCHOOL OF MUSIC & THE ARTS: $29,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetFOLUKE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER INC: $27,500 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH WATCH: $27,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND URBAN FILM FDN: $25,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetMVMT Dance Co: $22,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetLoiter: $20,000 over 1y, 10.0% of budgetTHE FAB FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLife Exchange Center: $15,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetNEAR WEST THEATRE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetESPERANZA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPEEL DEM LAYERS BACK: $15,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetCLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetELIZA BRYANT VILLAGE: $13,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAFRICAHOUSE INTERNATIONAL: $10,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetCAMPUS DISTRICT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetNegro League Baseball Legends Hall of Fame Baseball Heritage Museum: $10,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetKARAMU HOUSE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTwelve Literary Arts: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetLITTLE LUMPYS CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES: $10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCOLLECTIVEXPRESS INCORPORATED: $10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPALS FOR HEALING: $7,500 over 1y, 1.9% 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.

The Cleveland Foundat…The George Gund Found…The Char and Chuck Fo…Saint Lukes Foundatio…Turrell FundIn Our Backyards IncTreu Mart FundThe Abington Foundati…Jack Joseph & Morton …Murphy Family Foundat…Third Federal Foundat…The Reinberger Founda…
The Cleveland FoundationOH65.5× affinity32 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · Saint Lukes Foundation of Cleveland Ohio · Turrell Fund · In Our Backyards Inc · Treu Mart Fund · The Abington Foundation · Jack Joseph & Morton Mandel Foundation · Murphy Family Foundation · Third Federal Foundation · The Reinberger 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 Equity in the Arts Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Equity in the Arts Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%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
    1get no government money at all
    12report 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 39 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Equity in the Arts’ 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