Wisconsin · Nonprofit
ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC
ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,785,029 to it, the largest being FOUR-FOUR FOUNDATION INC ($489,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $461k
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $438k
What Artists Working in Education Inc does
Mission
A.w.e.'s mission is to provide youth in the milwaukee area with arts enrichment programs to enhance human potential, advance learning and cultivate community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Artists-in-residence program provided opportunities for youth to work collaboratively with a professional artist to understand and make creative decisions that align with broader community goals. Air programs took place in schools, after-school programs, and community spaces: they emphasized honoring and lifting community voices and experiences. They are led by professional and emerging artists.
$27,871 spent$4,400 earned by the program10% of program spendingOur mobile truck studio program offers free, meaningful, drop-in art-based enrichment activities and dedicated teams of teaching artists to activate parks, libraries, and other public spaces with engaging hands-on art experiences for youth. Our program is the only visual arts program focused on increasing access to all youth across the city of milwaukee.
$181,775 spent$46,762 earned by the program68% of program spendingThe rising artists council (rac) is a unique paid opportunity for young artists aged 13 - 18. Aimed at fostering artistic growth and providing a platform for networking among aspiring young artists in the community, awe's rac participants meet weekly to learn new artistic techniques, develop a portfolio of artworks, network and learn from working milwaukee artists while producing a culminating exhibition show. Each summer, awe also hosts several high school interns through mps's summer arts internship program. These individuals participate in a community-based art project and work alongside a digital media artist to document the process as well as create their own brand and digital online presence.
$56,409 spent$2,424 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $266,055.
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 2021 to 2022, from $723k to $555k (−23%).
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 15% · 2018 28% · 2019 26% · 2020 30% · 2021 11% · 2022 24% · 2023 16% · 2024 6% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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
Alex Carson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $79k → $225k.
7 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 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
ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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
31% 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 ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 58% · 2019 44% · 2020 34% · 2021 39% · 2022 30% · 2023 32% — 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
33% of ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
59% of ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $454k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 13 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$25k
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 ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION 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 ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC?
- ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,785,029 to it, the largest being FOUR-FOUR FOUNDATION INC ($489,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $1,785,029 in grants to ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC?
- FOUR-FOUR FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $489,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARTISTS WORKING IN EDUCATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Artists Working in Education →
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 44 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