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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC

CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $138,317 to it, the largest being Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc ($109,713). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$138k
Net assets
$109k
4/7 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Cultural Organization of Lowell Inc does

Mission

The cultural organization of lowell's mission is to strengthen the vitality and economic growth of arts and culture in lowell massachusetts by serving the creative community by fostering communication, collaboration, advocacy and promotion of cultural affairs and events in the city of lowell massachusetts.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. Through various programs and events, including discover lowell, lowell cultural heritage branding project, massachusetts poetry festival and open studios and museums of lowell, the organization is providing a welcome forum (the city of lowell) to a diverse group of artists and ethnic groups as well as a broader cultural experience to patrons and audiences. It has provided coordination and marketing support for these and many other events. The organization is also actively developing affordable artist live/work space in an ongoing effort to encourage artists to settle in lowell, ma.

    $9,263 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $9,263.

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 ($56k) Expenses 100 ($84k) Net assets 100 ($97k)2018 Revenue 299 ($168k) Expenses 284 ($239k) Net assets 27 ($26k)2019 Revenue 339 ($190k) Expenses 161 ($135k) Net assets 85 ($82k)2020 Revenue 121 ($68k) Expenses 81 ($68k) Net assets 85 ($82k)2021 Revenue 12 ($6k) Expenses 15 ($13k) Net assets 82 ($80k)2022 Revenue 41 ($23k) Expenses 11 ($9k) Net assets 93 ($90k)2023 Revenue 39 ($22k) Expenses 12 ($10k) Net assets 107 ($104k)2024 Revenue 33 ($18k) Expenses 12 ($10k) Net assets 119 ($115k)2025 Revenue 2 ($1k) Expenses 11 ($9k) Net assets 112 ($109k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (2)Expenses (11)Net assets (112)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 2017 to 2018, from $327k to $172k (−48%).

$327k
$172k
$149k
$108k
$99k
$110k
$169k
$115k
$126k
'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 16% · 2018 3% · 2019 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

37% of CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 18,808 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$28k
’17
−$71k
’18
$55k
’19
−$454
’20
−$6k
’21
$14k
’22
$12k
’23
$9k
’24
−$8k
’25
142
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1311111110888
Joined·+6+1+1+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·8111200
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $3k → $278.

3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL 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

CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 79% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

97% 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 CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC.

79%
largest funder
97%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 64% · 2019 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 97% · 2022 97% · 2023 90% — 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.

Where its funders are

83% of CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL 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 $23k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.

MA

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $115k 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

CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC's revenue fell 98% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−668% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−38% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025

Government funding CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $68k on record.

State$68k
17
18
19
23
24
25
Top programs
  • (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$68k
  • (EE) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES$350

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 CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL 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

05Profile & governance

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

Public support

93%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL 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 CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC?
CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $138,317 to it, the largest being Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc ($109,713). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $138,317 in grants to CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL INC?
Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $109,713 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF LOWELL 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.

Play a game about who funds Cultural Organization of Lowell →

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 7 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