California · Nonprofit
FORT MASON CENTER
FORT MASON CENTER (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $488,203 to it, the largest being THE HENRY MAYO NEWHALL FOUNDATION ($125,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $488k
- Net assets
- $42M
What Fort Mason Center does
Mission
Fort Mason Center engages and connects people with arts and culture on a historic waterfront campus. We inspire and foster creativity by providing a vibrant gathering place and a home for thought-provoking programs, events, and organizations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
First established as a nonprofit cultural center in 1977, Fort Mason Center for arts & culture (fmcac) has long been host to a lively mix of arts, educational and cultural programming on san francisco's northern waterfront. Each year, fmcac hosts over 10,000 events including art installations, cultural exhibitions, concerts, theatrical productions and more. In addition, fmcac provides over $2.5 million in support to local arts organizations, enabling groups to produce diverse and innovative art works at the historic waterfront campus. With a four-decade history as an arts and culture destination, fmcac is now focused on reinvigorating its programming and amenities to better serve and engage the evolving and dynamic bay area creative community. Central to this new vision is the commissioning and presentation of adventurous and unconventional art works best realized in nontraditional or historic settings.since 2012, fmcac has underwritten a performing arts series, held on site, in which the center awards cash grants and in-kind support to performing arts groups.in addition to performing arts productions, the center hosts a large variety of cultural events including crafts…
$8,875,361 spent$4,876,763 earned by the program62% of program spendingThrough its resident program, fmcac provides long-term financial support to over 15 non-profit and arts organizations. These organizations receive grants from fmcac to significantly reduce their rent costs on campus thus allowing these community serving arts organizations to focus on producing their artistic programs instead of searching for an affordable home amidst a booming local real estate market.current resident nonprofit organizations occupy approximately 160,000 square feet and include: bats improv, blue bear school of music, california lawyers for the arts, san francisco children's art center, greens restaurant (operated by the zen center), the long now foundation, magic theatre, environmental traveling companions, seedling projects, museo italo americano, and american indian cultural district.
$5,554,400 spentof which $5,554,400 as grants$9,121,620 earned by the program38% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,429,761.
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 $56M to $72M (+28%).
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 0% · 2018 1% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 40% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
2% of FORT MASON CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (10% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Michael Buhler
CEO & president
Board chair
Jim Penny
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $30k → $53k.
6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 FORT MASON 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
FORT MASON CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
48% 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 FORT MASON CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 48% · 2021 97% · 2022 68% · 2023 48% — 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
60% of FORT MASON CENTER's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 53% 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
60% of FORT MASON CENTER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $210k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
FORT MASON CENTER's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 303 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding FORT MASON CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $34k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$34k
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 FORT MASON 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Fmc Pier 2 Sublessor LLC · disregarded
- Fmc Pier 2 Lessor LP · partnership
- Fmc Projects Inc · corp_trust
- Fmc Pier 2 Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FORT MASON 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 FORT MASON CENTER?
- FORT MASON CENTER (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $488,203 to it, the largest being THE HENRY MAYO NEWHALL FOUNDATION ($125,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FORT MASON CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $488,203 in grants to FORT MASON CENTER, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FORT MASON CENTER?
- THE HENRY MAYO NEWHALL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $125,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FORT MASON CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 17 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