New York · Nonprofit
EXPLORING THE ARTS INC
EXPLORING THE ARTS INC (New York) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,903,309 to it, the largest being The Joel Foundation ($1,372,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Exploring the Arts Inc does
Mission
The mission is to expand equitable access to arts education in historically underserved public middle and high schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Internship program - provides students who face structural barriers with paid work experiences, mentorship opportunities, and professional development in the arts that empower self-identity and help build valuable skills for the futures.
$482,295 spentof which $147,770 as grants34% of program spendingFour-year plan - provides funding and technical assistance over the course of four years to help principals and teachers implement strategic plans for building rigorous, school-day arts programs and curricula that lead to measurable improvements in student learning, student engagement, and program sustainability.
$267,919 spent19% of program spendingLang arts scholars program - provides 15 students from etas nyc partner schools with fully-funded, intensive training in the performing arts, coupled with a wrap-around, college and career preparatory curriculum.
$285,582 spent20% of program spendingNetwork program turnaround arts new york events
$397,801 spent28% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,433,597.
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 2017 to 2018, from $4.6M to $5.6M (+23%).
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: 2018 1% · 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 33% · 2022 13% · 2023 14% · 2024 5% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of EXPLORING THE ARTS 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. 7 of the last 9 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $643k → $882k.
9 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 EXPLORING THE ARTS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 funders by total. 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
EXPLORING THE ARTS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 64% · 2019 49% · 2020 35% · 2021 31% · 2022 20% · 2023 23% — 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.
How long its funders stay
41% of EXPLORING THE ARTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
74% of EXPLORING THE ARTS INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $746k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
EXPLORING THE ARTS INC's funding base is broadening — from 10 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding EXPLORING THE ARTS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $100k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$100k
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 EXPLORING THE ARTS 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 20 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EXPLORING THE ARTS 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 EXPLORING THE ARTS INC?
- EXPLORING THE ARTS INC (New York) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,903,309 to it, the largest being The Joel Foundation ($1,372,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EXPLORING THE ARTS INC have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $5,903,309 in grants to EXPLORING THE ARTS INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EXPLORING THE ARTS INC?
- The Joel Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,372,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EXPLORING THE ARTS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 50 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing