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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

FIRST PERSON ARTS INC

FIRST PERSON ARTS INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,831,266 to it, the largest being INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC MEDIA OF PHILADELPHIA INC ($595,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.1M
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$167k
13/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 53%
01What it does

What First Person Arts Inc does

Mission

To transform the drama of real life into memoir and documentary art to foster appreciation for our unique and shared experience. The organization's mission grows out of the conviction that learning through one another's personal experiences is a compelling way to understand our history, our world and its diverse cultures. Through our festival, storyslams and other programming, first person arts has showcased the work of hundreds of artists nationwide, reaching across cultures and communities to attract a broad and diverse audience, and have played an important role in exploring and celebrating the richness of the mixed heritage and shared history of everyday americans.

As stated on its FY2021 Form 990.

Program

  1. The organization seeks to capture and preserve compelling, first-hand experiences and stories from diverse individuals, groups and cultures to develop and present works of art

    $803,179 spent$184,714 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $803,179.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($439k) Expenses 100 ($443k) Net assets 100 ($13k)2019 Revenue 117 ($512k) Expenses 120 ($530k) Net assets -889 ($-119773)2020 Revenue 149 ($655k) Expenses 106 ($468k) Net assets 439 ($59k)2021 Revenue 172 ($753k) Expenses 177 ($781k) Net assets 871 ($117k)2022 Revenue 173 ($760k) Expenses 173 ($764k) Net assets 708 ($95k)2023 Revenue 175 ($768k) Expenses 153 ($677k) Net assets 1382 ($186k)2024 Revenue 246 ($1.1M) Expenses 248 ($1.1M) Net assets 1236 ($167k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (246)Expenses (248)Net assets (1236)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 2021 to 2022, from $130k to $250k (+92%).

$139k
$48k
$150k
$130k
$250k
$247k
$330k
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 52% · 2022 34% · 2023 31% · 2024 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

83% of FIRST PERSON ARTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$4k
’18
−$17k
’19
$187k
’20
−$28k
’21
−$4k
’22
$91k
’23
−$20k
’24
1.4
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

Jamie Brunson

Executive director

Board chair

Michael Kutner

Chairman of the board (until aug24)

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed14141815151414
Joined·+0+9+2+0+0+3
No longer listed·055013
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $28k → $407k.

5 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 FIRST PERSON ARTS 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

FIRST PERSON ARTS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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

73% 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 FIRST PERSON ARTS INC.

32%
largest funder
57%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 44% · 2019 32% · 2020 52% · 2021 73% · 2022 50% · 2023 74% — 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

55% of FIRST PERSON ARTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

85% of FIRST PERSON ARTS INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.

PA
MD
DE
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $569k 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

FIRST PERSON ARTS INC has grown faster than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−2% · below the median
Months of reserve1.4mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding FIRST PERSON ARTS INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $60k on record.

Federal$60k
grants $60kcontracts $0
19
23
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$60k

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 FIRST PERSON 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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

73% of spending goes to programs.

Program 73%Management 12%Fundraising 15%

Governance

10
board members
90%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

67%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

PA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST PERSON 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.

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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 FIRST PERSON ARTS INC?
FIRST PERSON ARTS INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,831,266 to it, the largest being INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC MEDIA OF PHILADELPHIA INC ($595,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FIRST PERSON ARTS INC have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,831,266 in grants to FIRST PERSON ARTS INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FIRST PERSON ARTS INC?
INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC MEDIA OF PHILADELPHIA INC is the largest funder on record, with $595,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FIRST PERSON ARTS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 First Person Arts →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 21 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