Minnesota · Nonprofit
CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER
CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $347,057 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($137,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $671k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $347k
- Net assets
- $547k
What Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center does
Mission
The Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center inspires hands, hearts, and minds by art forms produced by heat, spark, or flame.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Arts education: in 2024, cafac provided nearly 200 classes in a variety of fire arts forms, including blacksmithing, glass, jewelry, metal casting, neon, welding, and more. These programs generated more than 1,150 enrollments by adults and youth of varying backgrounds and abilities. Cafac maintains a scholarship fund to remove financial barriers to participation from which we awarded $15,000 in 2024. We extend the reach of our education programming through partnerships with other community organizations. Last year those partnerships provided the opportunity to work with veterans, young people experiencing homelessness, and college students.
$282,305 spent$278,537 earned by the program49% of program spendingPublic art: cafac has established a reputation as a conduit between emerging public artists and organizations seeking large-scale work, by providing design expertise, fabrication facilities, project management, and training for artists seeking to build their public art portfolios. In 2024, three projects were in our public art production pipeline (see www.cafac.org/public-art-portfolio).
$149,795 spent$115,700 earned by the program26% of program spendingArtist support: this thread is woven through all of our work as we support artists in developing their careers, learning new skills, and breaking down barriers to participation. In 2024, three artists participated in our residency program, which provided four months of focused, supported time in the cafac studios and gallery. We also serve dozens of artists with our sparc (studio pass at reduced cost) program to access the tools and equipment they need. We provide a referral resource for artists through our craftsperson commission connection program, connecting a roster of local craftspeople, artists, and fabricators to individuals needing repair, fabrication, or custom work. Cafac also has a gallery that provides opportunities for solo and group exhibits as well as commission sales.
$144,033 spent$34,281 earned by the program25% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $576,133.
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 $436k to $1.4M (+229%).
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 12% · 2018 29% · 2019 12% · 2020 17% · 2021 24% · 2022 14% · 2023 15% · 2024 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
36% of CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER’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. 3 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.
Board chair
Peter Segar
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $23k → $74k.
3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER’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
CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
47% 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 CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 66% · 2020 66% · 2021 28% · 2022 45% · 2023 77% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 62% 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
100% of CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $68k 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
CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER has grown faster than half 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
Government funding CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$30k
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 CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER: 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 CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER?
- CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER (Minnesota) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $347,057 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($137,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $347,057 in grants to CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $137,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center →
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 13 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