Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC
BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,054,975 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,270,615). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.3M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $8.1M
- Net assets
- $3.3M
What Boston Public Art Triennial Inc does
Mission
To foster relationships between artists and the public to create bold public art experiences that open minds, conversations, and spaces across boston, resulting in a more open, equitable, and vibrant city.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In 2024, the boston public art triennial preprepared for a six-month public art exhibition to be held in 2025 that will be dedicated to supporting artists and communities in presenting bold contemporary public art that opens minds, conversations, and spaces, resulting in a more vibrant, open, and equitable region.
$2,037,751 spentof which $50,000 as grants$34,542 earned by the program69% of program spendingThe public art accelerator is a skill-building and grant-funding program designed to support early-to-mid-career boston-based artists in creating temporary public art projects in one of boston's neighborhoods. Artists who demonstrate need and interest in creating object-based works for boston received training in the skills (e.g., budgeting, project management) and sensibilities (e.g., consensus-building, empathy, ability to communicate a vision and involve others clearly) to succeed in the dynamic field of public art. Cohort-model workshops support the development of these skills. Four artists were selected to participate in approximately 14 workshops led by the triennial's curatorial and production team, alongside diverse workshop instructors.
$593,884 spent20% of program spendingLot lab is an outdoor, 24/7 experimentation zone for site-specific contemporary public art created with the boston community. Activating underused parcels across boston, lot lab provided opportunities for local and visiting artists to present multimedia installations in a community gathering space.
$333,216 spent11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,964,851.
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 2021 to 2022, from $999k to $2.7M (+173%).
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: 2020 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 5% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Katherine Gilbert
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $254k → $1.5M.
4 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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 PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL 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
BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 55% · 2019 71% · 2020 36% · 2021 76% · 2022 42% · 2023 39% — broadly stable.
“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
57% of BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
50% of BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL 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 $4.0M that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46k on record — $25k federal, $21k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$25k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$21k
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 BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL 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.
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 PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC?
- BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,054,975 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,270,615). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $8,054,975 in grants to BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,270,615 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL INC 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.
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 30 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