Skip to content

Connecticut · Nonprofit

BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC

BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $374,042 to it, the largest being ZOE'S BEST FRIEND INC ($173,350). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.2M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$374k
Net assets
$6.1M
8/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What Ball & Socket Arts Inc does

Mission

Ball & socket arts is transforming an abandoned industrial campus into an innovative and dynamic arts destination for the central connecticut region (and beyond). Built on the ethos of sustainability and historic preservation, ball & socket arts offers vibrant arts & culture programming and provides accessible and relevant experiences to a broad public audience.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The long-term vision for ball & socket is to transform the historic factory buildings and grounds into a welcoming hub for arts, culture, creative commerce, and community. Ball & socket arts will present curated exhibitions of contemporary visual artists with a focus on contemporary art in the workshop gallery, and once completed, inside building 1. Ball & socket arts presents a range of multidisciplinary arts, culture, and history programming. On-site spaces in building 1 will include: a grand exhibition hall; a flexible performance venue; an interactive history museum; an education wing; spaces for partnering arts organizations and creative commerce; and more. Our programming will include workshops, classes, and lectures for all ages, along with commissioned works of art for our exterior and interior spaces. We envision vibrant, accessible outdoor public spaces around our campus featuring art installations and spaces to gather. Our site features direct access to the farmington canal linear trail for easy pedestrian and cyclist access, as well as direct access to public transportation.

    $462,371 spent$420 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $462,371.

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 ($117k) Expenses 100 ($29k) Net assets 100 ($439k)2018 Revenue 150 ($176k) Expenses 204 ($60k) Net assets 126 ($554k)2019 Revenue 67 ($78k) Expenses 133 ($39k) Net assets 135 ($593k)2020 Revenue 95 ($111k) Expenses 76 ($22k) Net assets 155 ($682k)2021 Revenue 130 ($152k) Expenses 150 ($44k) Net assets 180 ($790k)2022 Revenue 1075 ($1.3M) Expenses 237 ($69k) Net assets 450 ($2.0M)2023 Revenue 1063 ($1.2M) Expenses 1457 ($426k) Net assets 647 ($2.8M)2024 Revenue 1143 ($1.3M) Expenses 2069 ($604k) Net assets 822 ($3.6M)2025 Revenue 2705 ($3.2M) Expenses 2385 ($697k) Net assets 1389 ($6.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (2705)Expenses (2385)Net assets (1389)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 2021 to 2022, from $3.0M to $7.6M (+159%).

$2.4M
$2.5M
$2.6M
$2.7M
$3.0M
$7.6M
$7.7M
$8.6M
$9.3M
'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 76% · 2018 7% · 2019 6% · 2020 5% · 2022 8% · 2023 65% · 2024 74% · 2025 89%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$88k
’17
$116k
’18
$40k
’19
$89k
’20
$108k
’21
$1.2M
’22
$822k
’23
$737k
’24
$2.5M
’25
3.7
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.

Board chair

Ron Bergamo

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed985151313121212
Joined·+0+0+11+2+3+0+4+1
No longer listed·13143141
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $14k → $59k.

4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 BALL & SOCKET ARTS 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

BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

42% 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 BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC.

46%
largest funder
75%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 66% · 2021 63% · 2022 68% · 2023 26% — 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

80% of BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 73% 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

96% of BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC's grant income comes from Connecticut funders.

NJ
CT

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
Connecticut out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $136k 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

BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin78% · top quartile
Months of reserve3.7mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)51% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.9M on record — $650k federal, $2.3M state.

Federal$650k
grants $650kcontracts $0
23
24
Top agencies
  • Small Business Administration$625k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$25k
State$2.3M
22
23
24
25
26
Top programs
  • State Aid Grants$1.5M
  • Pass thru Grant Non-State$737k

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 BALL & SOCKET ARTS 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 Connecticut

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 19%Fundraising 15%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

83%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CT

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BALL & SOCKET ARTS 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC?
BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $374,042 to it, the largest being ZOE'S BEST FRIEND INC ($173,350). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $374,042 in grants to BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC?
ZOE'S BEST FRIEND INC is the largest funder on record, with $173,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BALL & SOCKET ARTS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Ball & Socket 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 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