California · Nonprofit
ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,772,549 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($2,888,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $5.8M
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Arts Council Santa Cruz County does
Mission
The organization's mission is to generate creativity, vibrancy, and connection within santa cruz county; to fund and support artists in the community, arts education and effective community collaborations in the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Spectra and mariposa arts education program offer art, music, dance, creative writing and theater classes in and after school, offering a place for students to be fully themselves, to belong. These arts classes teach creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork, public speaking and other essential life skills. More than 16,000 youth throughout santa cruz county participate in our arts education programs. We also offer opportunities for students and parents to explore art together through 12 family arts nights throughout the county and our teaching artist gatherings provide professional development and networking opportunities for santa cruz county teaching artists.
$776,691 spentof which $13,152 as grants$690,123 earned by the program43% of program spendingSupport the success of artists and arts organizations through a variety of programming. We make more than $200,000 grants each year to more than 80 artists and arts organizations supporting creative projects, professional development, and organization operations. Open studios connects more than 300 visual artists to tens of thousands of residents and visitors, generating close to $1,000,000 in arts sales each year. Advocacy at the local, state, and national level helps ensure policies and funding for the creative sector.
$283,332 spentof which $2,199 as grants$251,555 earned by the program16% of program spendingThe tannery arts center is home to 100 affordable live/work artist lofts, 28 artist studios, a dance studio, a gallery, a 250 seat professional theater, and the arts council offices. The arts council plays a coordinating role at the tannery, producing community events where tenant artists share their craft, marketing the campus, and its offerings to the public, and working with leadership to support a cohesive, creative community. Open studios - open studios art tour is one of the most amazing art events of the year, connecting tens of thousands of santa cruz residents and visitors to more than 300 artists across santa cruz county. Artists connect with collectors, neighbors and each other, creating a stronger community and generating more than $700,000 in art sales. Line 4d, program services special projects - we work to strengthen our community through projects with unlikely partners, advocacy efforts, cultural tourism initiatives and more. We facilitate art exhibits at the county building as part of an initiative to bring art into civic spaces. The ebb & flow river arts project celebrates and enlivens the tannery arts center, san lorenzo river and santa cruz riverwalk.
$383,613 spentof which $230,759 as grants$247,108 earned by the program21% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$345,602 spentof which $2,582 as grants$403,135 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,789,238.
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 2022 to 2023, from $3.4M to $4.5M (+34%).
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 38% · 2019 29% · 2020 13% · 2021 12% · 2022 15% · 2023 13% · 2024 4% · 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
James Brown
Executive director
Board chair
Peter Weng
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $256k → $526k.
8 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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: $809k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation Santa Cruz County). These are real filings, and they are not money ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY raised.
From the IRS filings of ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 26 of 27 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
ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 57% · 2019 77% · 2020 51% · 2021 55% · 2022 77% · 2023 71% — 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
44% of ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY'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
99% of ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $266k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $516k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$516k
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 ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
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 ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: 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 ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY?
- ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,772,549 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($2,888,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $5,772,549 in grants to ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY?
- THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,888,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARTS COUNCIL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 27 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