California · Nonprofit
AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE
AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE (California) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,291,796 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($760,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 48
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $13M
What American Cinematheque does
Mission
The American Cinematheque believes that cinema is a communal experience with the power to entertain, enlighten and inspire. We build a diverse and engaged film community through immersive film curation, conversation, and presentation. We bridge the filmmaker to the audience and film history to its future.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The American Cinematheque ensures public access to local, national, and international films, many of which are unavailable elsewhere and are of historical, cultural, or educational importance. Programs include classics of american and international cinema, new independent and world films, including rare nitrate and archival prints, 70mm, digital laser projection, etc., with post-screening filmmaker discussions with the audience. Films are presented in state-of-the-art theaters as they were meant to be seen and heard, providing once-in-a-lifetime experiences. In 2025, the American Cinematheque presented over 1,700 screenings at the egyptian, aero, and los feliz theaters in los angeles, in collaboration with ampas, ucla archive, eastman museum, library of congress, japan foundation, cinematheque france, fiaf member archives, among others. Membership has increased to over 10,000, with an active mailing list of 200,000.the cinematheque awards (given to a filmmaker making a significant contribution to cinema) was presented to jessica chastain in december 2024.
$4,856,461 spent$4,383,242 earned by the program70% of program spendingTribute to the crafts 2025presented by American Cinematheque and sponsored by milagro, dell, kodak, and shotdeck.tribute to the crafts honors those craftspeople and artists who are at the very heart of filmmaking and have exhibited extraordinary work behind the camera over the past year. The evening celebrates individuals in 13 separate categories covering all aspects of filmmaking and showcases clips from each of their respective films. The audience for this invitation-only event is comprised of ac members and members from ampas, pga, wga, dga, sag-aftra, bafta, and film critics.
$1,487,814 spentof which $77,569 as grants$104,500 earned by the program22% of program spendingBeyond festthe beyond fest festival is the highest-attended genre festival in the u.s. And exists to serve the genre community in los angeles. Beyond fest is built in partnership with the American Cinematheque, a not-for-profit entity, to raise funds to support the 501(c)(3) non-profit mission.
$551,851 spent$575,961 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,896,126.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $5.4M to $27M (+404%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 10% · 2022 6% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Kenneth Scherer
Executive director
Board chair
Rick Nicita
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $488k → $383k.
8 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $57k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Horizons). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
32% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 67% · 2019 40% · 2020 67% · 2021 79% · 2022 24% · 2023 26% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
38% of AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
62% of AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $353k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Theater Arts Group · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE?
- AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE (California) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,291,796 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($760,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE have?
- IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $3,291,796 in grants to AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE?
- PERENCHIO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $760,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 48 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing