Tennessee · Nonprofit
ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS (Tennessee) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $514,849 to it, the largest being THE HELMERICH TRUST ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $626k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $515k
- Net assets
- $2.5M
What Athens Area Council for the Arts does
Mission
To enrich the quality of life and make a difference for the mcminn county community by providing opportunities for the expression and appreciation of the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To enrich the quality of life and provide opportunities for the expression and appreciation of the arts.
$67,486 spent$152,553 earned by the program23% of program spendingOffers daily classes in art, music, drama, and dance.
$231,779 spent$30,483 earned by the program77% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $299,265.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.7M to $2.5M (+44%).
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 11% · 2018 8% · 2019 10% · 2020 49% · 2021 64% · 2022 43% · 2023 17% · 2024 22% · 2025 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
64% of ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% 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
Lauren Shepherd
Executive director
Board chair
Patti Greek
Personnel chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $8k → $33k.
2 of 8 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 ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS’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
ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 83% · 2019 100% · 2020 69% · 2021 55% · 2022 69% · 2023 45% — 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
40% of ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
57% of ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $45k 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.
Against its field
ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $14k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
- Department of Agriculture$4k
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 ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS: 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 ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS?
- ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS (Tennessee) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $514,849 to it, the largest being THE HELMERICH TRUST ($200,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $514,849 in grants to ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS?
- THE HELMERICH TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ATHENS AREA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Athens Area Council for the Arts →
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 8 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