Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Americans for the Arts Inc
Americans for the Arts Inc (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,245,707 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,763,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 93
- Grants received
- $7.2M
- Net assets
- $106M
What Americans for the Arts Inc does
Mission
The mission of Americans for the Arts (AFTA) is to serve, advance, and lead the network of lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Research and policy: Research and policy is responsible for national society. This research is conducted using various methods and is disseminated through meetings, media and publications that are widely distributed. Signature programs in this area include the arts & economic prosperity study, national arts index and studies on various topics such as local arts funding statistics, united arts fundraising local arts salary information, cultural districts and more that provide important case making data to all arts advocates. The creative forces program serves military service members with traumatic brain injuries at military facilities.
$6,404,744 spentof which $404,526 as grants$376,674 earned by the program100% of program spendingGovernment and public affairs: Government and public affairs is responsible for all government affairs work and developing partnerships with government and other non-governmental organizations to promote the value of the arts and mission of AFTA's two key programs, including herein are the annual Nancy Hanks lecture on arts and public policy and arts advocacy day activities. This area also includes our arts education policy work advancing equitable access for arts education across the country.
Local arts advancement: Local arts advancement is responsible for providing professional development, case making information and networking opportunities to the many organizations and individuals that work to build stronger communities through the Arts every day they do this work through major convening such as the Annual Convention and National Arts Marketing Project Conference to smaller gatherings like Executive Leadership Forum at Sundance. They also convene networks of core constituencies including Public Art, Emerging Leaders, Rural Arts, County Arts, The US Urban Arts Federation, The New Community Visions Initiative and more. In addition, the implement the membership program and ensure our members receive strong benefits that help achieve their goals.
Scholarships and Awards
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,404,744.
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 2017 to 2018, from $128M to $114M (−11%).
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: 2017 20% · 2018 21% · 2019 41% · 2020 62% · 2021 43% · 2022 59% · 2023 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
13% of Americans for the Arts Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 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.
Board chair
Edgar L Smith Jr
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 25 funders to 13 funders, grant income fell $1.3M → $765k.
16 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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: $511k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Americans for the Arts Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Americans for the Arts Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Americans for the Arts Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 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
Americans for the Arts Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
28% 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 Americans for the Arts Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 52% · 2019 45% · 2020 49% · 2021 21% · 2022 21% · 2023 65% — growing more concentrated.
“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
23% of Americans for the Arts Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
Americans for the Arts Inc draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 22 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $842k arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Americans for the Arts Inc's revenue fell 79% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Americans for the Arts Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $16.1M on record — $16.1M federal, $80k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$16.0M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$30k
- NJ$39k
- OR$20k
- FL$14k
- OK$6k
- MA$2k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Americans for the Arts Inc
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Arts & Business Council of New York · exempt
- Americans for the Arts Foundation · exempt
- Americans for the Arts Action Fund · exempt
- Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Americans for the Arts Inc: 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 Americans for the Arts Inc?
- Americans for the Arts Inc (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,245,707 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,763,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Americans for the Arts Inc have?
- IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $7,245,707 in grants to Americans for the Arts Inc, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Americans for the Arts Inc?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,763,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Americans for the Arts Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 93 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