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Maryland · Nonprofit

COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC

COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC (Maryland) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $772,133 to it, the largest being HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL ($549,191). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$398k
Funders on record
9
Grants received
$772k
Net assets
$590k
6/9 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 38%
01What it does

What Columbia Festival Inc does

Mission

The mission of the columbia festival of the arts is to present a world class celebration of the arts and entertainment that attracts, engages and inspires the broad and diverse community it serves.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Columbia festival of the arts a sixteen day multiarts festival attracting 25,000 plus people that presents 65 events in different locations in columbia, maryland.it also officially presented a partnership with merriweather arts culture center .

    $190,522 spent$118,075 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $190,522.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($318k) Expenses 100 ($353k) Net assets 100 ($532k)2021 Revenue 163 ($520k) Expenses 108 ($380k) Net assets 126 ($672k)2022 Revenue 202 ($643k) Expenses 218 ($772k) Net assets 102 ($543k)2023 Revenue 146 ($464k) Expenses 162 ($571k) Net assets 87 ($462k)2024 Revenue 151 ($479k) Expenses 137 ($486k) Net assets 90 ($476k)2025 Revenue 125 ($398k) Expenses 84 ($297k) Net assets 111 ($590k)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (125)Expenses (84)Net assets (111)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 2020 to 2021, from $663k to $839k (+27%).

$663k
$839k
$673k
$609k
$716k
$730k
202020212022202320242025
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

63% of COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$36k
’20
$140k
’21
−$129k
’22
−$107k
’23
−$7k
’24
$101k
’25
1.9
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.

Chief executive

Philip Maher

President/acting executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.

202020212022202320242025
Listed151315171315
Joined·+1+4+7+5+4
No longer listed·32592
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $87k → $67k.

4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 COLUMBIA FESTIVAL 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

COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

96% 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 COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC.

71%
largest funder
91%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 47% · 2019 76% · 2020 58% · 2021 78% · 2022 65% · 2023 89% — 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

63% of COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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 COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC's grant income comes from Maryland funders.

MD

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maryland out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $62k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin25% · top quartile
Months of reserve1.9mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $205k on record.

State$205k
23
24
Top programs
  • Grant$205k

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 COLUMBIA FESTIVAL 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 Maryland

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

64% of spending goes to programs.

Program 64%Management 22%Fundraising 14%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MD

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COLUMBIA FESTIVAL 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.

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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 COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC?
COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC (Maryland) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $772,133 to it, the largest being HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL ($549,191). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC have?
IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $772,133 in grants to COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC?
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL is the largest funder on record, with $549,191 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like COLUMBIA FESTIVAL INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Columbia Festival →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 9 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