Massachusetts · Nonprofit
Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD
Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD (Massachusetts) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $191,515 to it, the largest being LI-QIU FAMILY FOUNDATION ($102,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $211k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $192k
- Net assets
- $144k
What Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD does
Mission
BCAF believes in the power of comics to inspire educate and bring people together. BCF helps promote spaces for both creators and readers to find one another exchange ideas and grow as a community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The MASSACHUSETTS INDEPENDENT COMICS EXPO MICE is a free annual comic arts festival which highlights indie comic creators and their work. MICE consists of 200 creators 30 panels and workshops an ongoing Maker Space and a Cartoonarium for creators to draw live and field questions. The festival also awards MICE Mini-Grants in support of new comic work. MICE draws 5,000 visitors annually provides educational programming to 1,500 and utilizes 100 volunteers.
$111,114 spentof which $1,900 as grants74% of program spendingThe Boston Comics in Color Festival BCICF is a free annual comic arts festival that highlights and celebrates creators of color. The festival features over 100 artists and 15 public panels and workshops that center BIPOC voices and experiences in comics and illustration. BCICF serves 1,500 attendees annually provides educational programming to approximately 500 participants and engages 60 volunteers. The event advances equity and representation in the comic arts field.
$30,000 spent20% of program spendingPicture + Panel P+P is a monthly author series that brings acclaimed comic creators and writers to the Boston area for public conversation and book discussion. Presented in partnership with Porter Square Books and the Boston Figurative Art Center the series features 24 creators annually draws roughly 600 attendees and relies on a team of 12 volunteers. The program promotes literary and visual arts engagement and builds community around the comics medium.
$10,000 spent7% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $151,114.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $88k to $163k (+86%).
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: 2024 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD’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. 0 of the last 3 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
Michelle Paroline Lamb
Executive director
Board chair
Zachary Clemente
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $279 → $62k.
1 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD’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
Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 87%; 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: 2020 90% · 2021 94% · 2022 98% · 2023 64% — 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.
Where its funders are
94% of Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $65 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% 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 Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD: 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 Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD?
- Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD (Massachusetts) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $191,515 to it, the largest being LI-QIU FAMILY FOUNDATION ($102,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $191,515 in grants to Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD?
- LI-QIU FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $102,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Boston Comic Arts Foundation LTD →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), 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