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Arkansas · Nonprofit

ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL

ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL (Arkansas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $294,960 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($229,850). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$858k
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$295k
Net assets
$301k
5/6 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 2%
01What it does

What Arkansas Humanities Council does

Mission

The purpose of the Arkansas Humanities Council is to promote understanding, appreciation, and use of the humanities in arkansas. To achieve its purpose, the council awards grants through a competitive application process to nonprofit groups and organizations so they can plan, conduct, and evaluate projects in the humanities for arkansas citizens. In addition, the council provides training and technical assistance in support of the grant program and circulates educational materials through the arkansas humanities resource enter.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Program development and technical assistance.

    $458,965 spent
    95% of program spending
  2. Grants to non-profit organizations for humanities programs.

    $22,392 spentof which $22,392 as grants
    5% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $481,357.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($768k) Expenses 100 ($774k) Net assets 100 ($91k)2018 Revenue 106 ($814k) Expenses 117 ($908k) Net assets 0 ($-163)2019 Revenue 79 ($606k) Expenses 79 ($608k) Net assets -2 ($-1507)2020 Revenue 112 ($860k) Expenses 116 ($897k) Net assets 48 ($44k)2021 Revenue 185 ($1.4M) Expenses 174 ($1.3M) Net assets 139 ($127k)2022 Revenue 142 ($1.1M) Expenses 139 ($1.1M) Net assets 151 ($137k)2023 Revenue 169 ($1.3M) Expenses 174 ($1.3M) Net assets 105 ($95k)2024 Revenue 203 ($1.6M) Expenses 191 ($1.5M) Net assets 202 ($184k)2025 Revenue 112 ($858k) Expenses 96 ($742k) Net assets 331 ($301k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (112)Expenses (96)Net assets (331)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $182k to $575k (+215%).

$279k
$182k
$575k
$190k
$163k
$185k
$351k
$339k
$328k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 97% · 2018 99% · 2019 98% · 2020 98% · 2021 99% · 2022 96% · 2023 99% · 2024 97% · 2025 75%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$6k
’17
−$94k
’18
−$2k
’19
−$37k
’20
$78k
’21
$17k
’22
−$44k
’23
$82k
’24
$116k
’25
4.6
months of
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

Jama Best

Executive director

Board chair

Mel Zabecki

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'24'25
Listed2520252425242219
Joined·+5+12+0+8+0·+9
No longer listed·107171·12
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $9k → $10k.

2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

87% 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 ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL.

78%
largest funder
99%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 49% · 2022 94% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.

“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.

Where its funders are

ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Arkansas, across 2 states in all.

VA
AR

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’20
’21
’22
’23
Arkansas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $28k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.8M on record.

Federal$8.8M
grants $8.8Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$8.8M
  • Department of the Interior$32k

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 ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL

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 Arkansas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

65% of spending goes to programs.

Program 65%Management 27%Fundraising 9%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

AR

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL: 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.

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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 ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL (Arkansas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $294,960 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($229,850). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $294,960 in grants to ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL?
FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $229,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ARKANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arkansas. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 6 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing