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· Public charity

Howard County Arts Council

To enrich and uplift our communities by advancing the arts, artists, and arts organizations for the benefit of all.

$756k
Granted FY2025still arriving
33
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$60k
Largest
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$4.4MAnimals$364kScience & Tech$179k
02FY2025 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 33 grants below total $602,832, the rows itemized in this filing. The $755,931 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $153,099 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 $10k16 grants · $102k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $329k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $171k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLUMBIA CENTER FOR THEATRICAL ARTS$60,000
COLUMBIA FESTIVAL$55,650
COLUMBIA ORCHESTRA$55,500
CHAMBER MUSIC MARYLAND$43,251
KINETICS DANCE THEATRE$41,250
BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$34,160
COLUMBIA PRO CANTARE LTD$33,311
MARYLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC$30,107
BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART$22,000
MARYLAND SCIENCE CENTER$21,515
CENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES$20,529
WALTERS ART MUSEUM$17,735
PORT DISCOVERY CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$15,561
HOWARD COUNTY POETRY & LIT SOCIETY$14,800
NATIONAL AQUARIUM IN BALTIMORE$12,736
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, $24k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WINTER GROWTH: $6k → 6%WINTER GROWTH: $6k → 6%HOPEWORKS OF HOWARD COUNTY: $6k → 6%HOPEWORKS OF HOWARD COUNTY: $6k → 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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.9M · 36 repeat orgs$47k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
4

Total granted

$4.9M
$47k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
0%

Still filing today

75%
50%

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 & CultureAnimalsHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • CC
    Columbia Center For Theatrical Arts Inc
    9× · 2017–2025 · $564k · revenue +7%
  • CF
    COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $549k · revenue +25%
  • CO
    COLUMBIA ORCHESTRA OF HOWARD COUNTY INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $458k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • HC
    HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
    one grant, 2021 · $24k
  • RB
    Red Branch Theatre Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $9k
  • CP
    CULTURA PLENERA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $7k · revenue ×14 · 83% of their budget
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
Classic Theatre of Maryland Inc

Classic Theatre of Marylands mission is to produce bold re-imagined entertaining and accessible interpretations of classical works contemporary plays and musicals with a core commitment to the works of Shakespeare and other major…

Arts & Culture
3
Baltimore Chamber Orchestra Inc

The mission of the baltimore chamber orchestra is to move, inspire, and provide educational opportunities to baltimore's community through world-class performances.

Arts & Culture
4
District of Columbia Arts Center

The District of Columbia Arts Center serves the Washington DC area by presenting high caliber and challenging works. It encourages professionalism among artists by providing a forum for educational and cultural exchange. DCAC was founded…

Arts & Culture
5
Maryland Opera Inc

The mission of maryland opera, inc is (1) the promotion, production and performance in a variety of venues, of live opera experiences to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, (11) the creation and continuation of opera education and…

Philanthropy
6
Baltimore Concert Opera Inc

Opera baltimore creates a thrilling, meaningful shared experience between our audience and our artists. our streamlined format focuses on the primary element of opera: the unamplified human voice. featuring top flight professional opera…

Arts & Culture
7
Shriver Hall Concert Series Inc

Shriver hall concert series's mission is to enrich the baltimore community through outstanding chamber music and recital experiences.

Arts & Culture
8
Maryland Technology Museum Inc
Arts & Culture
9
Howard County Arts Council

To enrich and uplift our communities by advancing the arts, artists, and arts organizations for the benefit of all.

Arts & Culture
10
Baltimore Choral Arts Society Inc

The society was created to support a chorus, which performs public concerts of choral & orchestra music. the mission is to build a stronger, more connected, more inspired community by celebrating the joy of choral music through exceptional…

Arts & Culture
11
Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring

To provide innovative management of the silver spring black box theatre to both resident companies and other artists and organizations as the rental calendar allows

Arts & Culture
12
Ballet Theatre of Maryland Inc

To promote the interest in and enjoyment of dance arts by providing dancers an opportunity to study and perform; by providing choreographers an outlet for creative expression and training; by providing quality entertainment and education…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Center Stage Associates Inc; the most unlike its peers is Cultura Plenera Inc. 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

30 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. 30 of the 40 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/30
Grantees still filing
23/30
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Columbia Center For Theatrical Arts Inc: $564,240 · Arts & CultureColumbia Center For Theatrical Arts IncCOLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC: $549,191 · Arts & CultureCOLUMBIA FESTIVAL INCCHAMBER MUSIC MARYLAND INC: $374,195 · Arts & CultureCHAMBER MUSIC MARYLAND INCBALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $316,586 · Arts & CultureBALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INCCOLUMBIA PRO CANTARE LTD: $273,911 · Arts & CultureCOLUMBIA PRO CANTARE LTDCENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES INC: $196,558 · Arts & CultureCENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES INCBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $191,957 · Arts & CultureBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ARTMARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $179,067 · Arts & CultureWALTERS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $137,518 · Arts & CultureTHE BALTIMORE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC: $136,929 · Arts & CultureHOWARD COUNTY POETRY & LITERARY SOCIETY: $133,479 · Arts & CultureBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY INC: $125,295 · Arts & CultureCHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $119,994 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $159,211 · Arts & CultureCOLUMBIA ORCHESTRA OF HOWARD COUNTY INC: $458,303 · OtherCOLUMBIA ORCHESTRA OF H…KINETICS DANCE THEATRE INC: $286,834 · OtherKINETICS DANCE THEATRE …MISAKO BALLET COMPANY: $67,640 · OtherMISAKO BALLET COMPANY+11 more: $222,410 · Other+11 moreMARYLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC: $224,400 · AnimalsNATIONAL AQUARIUM INC: $139,363 · AnimalsHOPEWORKS OF HOWARD COUNTY INC: $24,000 · Human ServicesWINTER GROWTH INC: $12,000 · Human ServicesHOWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $22,000 · EducationBLOSSOMS OF HOPE THE HOWARD COUNTY CHER: $11,887 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$3,458,131Other$1,035,187Animals$363,763Human Services$36,000Education$22,000Community Improvement$11,887

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 budgetColumbia Center For Theatrical Arts Inc: $564,240 over 9y, 18% of budgetCOLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC: $549,191 over 9y, 22% of budgetCOLUMBIA ORCHESTRA OF HOWARD COUNTY INC: $458,303 over 9y, 23% of budgetCHAMBER MUSIC MARYLAND INC: $374,195 over 9y, 18% of budgetBALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $316,586 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetKINETICS DANCE THEATRE INC: $286,834 over 9y, 12% of budgetCOLUMBIA PRO CANTARE LTD: $273,911 over 9y, 27% of budgetMARYLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC: $224,400 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES INC: $196,558 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $191,957 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetMARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $179,067 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL AQUARIUM INC: $139,363 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetWALTERS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $137,518 over 9y, 42% of budgetTHE BALTIMORE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC: $136,929 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetHOWARD COUNTY POETRY & LITERARY SOCIETY: $133,479 over 9y, 23% of budgetBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY INC: $125,295 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetCHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $119,994 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetTHE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM INC: $63,493 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetHoward County Chinese School Inc: $26,537 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetSILHOUETTE STAGES INC: $25,360 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetHOPEWORKS OF HOWARD COUNTY INC: $24,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetHOWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $22,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMANNEQART: $12,553 over 2y, 12% of budgetINDIAN CULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF HOWARD COUNTY INC: $12,048 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetWINTER GROWTH INC: $12,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOWARD COUNTY SUMMER THEATRE INC: $11,893 over 2y, 9.8% of budgetBLOSSOMS OF HOPE THE HOWARD COUNTY CHER: $11,887 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetRed Branch Theatre Inc: $8,868 over 1y, 13% of budgetCULTURA PLENERA INC: $7,327 over 1y, 83% of budgetEC250 INC: $6,000 over 1y, 6.0% 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 Columbia Center For Theatrical Arts Inc ↗
  • Who funds COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC ↗
  • Who funds COLUMBIA ORCHESTRA OF HOWARD COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds CHAMBER MUSIC MARYLAND INC ↗
  • Who funds BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
  • Who funds KINETICS DANCE THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds COLUMBIA PRO CANTARE LTD ↗
  • Who funds MARYLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTER STAGE ASSOCIATES INC ↗
  • Who funds BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL AQUARIUM INC ↗
  • Who funds WALTERS ART MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BALTIMORE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds HOWARD COUNTY POETRY & LITERARY SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF INDUSTRY INC ↗
  • Who funds CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds Howard County Chinese School Inc ↗
  • Who funds SILHOUETTE STAGES INC ↗
  • Who funds HOPEWORKS OF HOWARD COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds HOWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MANNEQART ↗
  • Who funds INDIAN CULTURAL ASSOCIATION OF HOWARD COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds WINTER GROWTH INC ↗
  • Who funds HOWARD COUNTY SUMMER THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds BLOSSOMS OF HOPE THE HOWARD COUNTY CHER ↗
  • Who funds Red Branch Theatre Inc ↗
  • Who funds CULTURA PLENERA INC ↗
  • Who funds EC250 INC ↗

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 Community Foundation of Howard County IncMD30.3× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Howard County Inc · The John J Leidy Foundation Inc · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc · Dr Frank C Marino Foundation Inc · The Kahlert Foundation Inc · The United Way of Central Maryland Inc · Baltimore Community Foundation Inc · The William G Baker Jr Memorial Fund · The Horizon Foundation of Howard County Inc · Wr Grace Foundation Inc · T Rowe Price Foundation · France-Merrick 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 Howard County Arts Council funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Howard County Arts Council. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 110%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • The Baltimore Children's Museum Inc: 33% of income from government
  • Hopeworks of Howard County Inc: 29% of income from government
  • Columbia Festival Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: 16% of income from government
  • Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Maryland Academy of Sciences: 9% of income from government
  • Baltimore Museum of Industry Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Center Stage Associates Inc: 7% of income from government
  • The American Visionary Art Museum Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Baltimore Museum of Art: 4% of income from government
  • Maryland Zoological Society Inc: 3% of income from government
  • National Aquarium Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
5report 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 40 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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