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New York · Nonprofit

Arts Gowanus Inc

Arts Gowanus Inc (New York) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $134,406 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$277k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$134k
Net assets
$295k
6/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 11%
01What it does

What Arts Gowanus Inc does

Mission

Arts Gowanus is a not-for-profit organization working to support, promote, and advocate for local artists and a sustainable arts community in Brooklyn

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. To support, promote, and advocate for local artists and a sustainable arts community in Brooklyn.

    $219,135 spent$301,160 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $219,135.

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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($98k) Expenses 100 ($68k) Net assets 100 ($58k)2018 Revenue 77 ($75k) Expenses 127 ($87k) Net assets 81 ($47k)2019 Revenue 63 ($62k) Expenses 136 ($93k) Net assets 27 ($16k)2020 Revenue 96 ($94k) Expenses 118 ($81k) Net assets 49 ($29k)2021 Revenue 170 ($167k) Expenses 199 ($136k) Net assets 102 ($59k)2022 Revenue 240 ($235k) Expenses 254 ($173k) Net assets 207 ($120k)2023 Revenue 512 ($500k) Expenses 508 ($348k) Net assets 470 ($273k)2024 Revenue 283 ($277k) Expenses 372 ($254k) Net assets 508 ($295k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (283)Expenses (372)Net assets (508)Peer revenue range

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 $123k to $291k (+136%).

$59k
$47k
$16k
$37k
$69k
$123k
$291k
$316k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 3% · 2023 7% · 2024 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

78% of Arts Gowanus Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$29k
’17
−$11k
’18
−$31k
’19
$13k
’20
$30k
’21
$61k
’22
$153k
’23
$23k
’24
15
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

Johnny Thornton

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

202220232024
Listed101013
Joined·+2+4
No longer listed·21
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $6k → $44k.

4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 Arts Gowanus Inc’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

Arts Gowanus Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

79% 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 Arts Gowanus Inc.

37%
largest funder
68%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 39% · 2022 42% · 2023 33% — 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

60% of Arts Gowanus Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

52% of Arts Gowanus Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $64k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from New York funders.

NY
PA
CO

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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

Against its field

Arts Gowanus Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin8% · above the median
Months of reserve14.5mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Arts Gowanus 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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

52% of spending goes to programs.

Program 52%Management 40%Fundraising 8%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

94%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Arts Gowanus 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.

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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 Arts Gowanus Inc?
Arts Gowanus Inc (New York) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $134,406 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Arts Gowanus Inc have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $134,406 in grants to Arts Gowanus Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Arts Gowanus Inc?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Arts Gowanus Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Arts Gowanus →

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 11 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