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Texas · Nonprofit

Fotofest Inc

Fotofest Inc (Texas) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,520,391 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($961,500). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.1M
Funders on record
30
Grants received
$3.5M
Net assets
$1.6M
16/30 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 49%
01What it does

What Fotofest Inc does

Mission

To create an international forum for the exchange of photography and ideas. To promote public appreciation of photographic art.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Preparation, installation, and presentation of photographic exhibitions and programs, including lectures, tours, and panel discussions. Publications of photography books, catalogues, and gallery guides.

    $727,748 spent$108,333 earned by the program
    89% of program spending
  2. Literacy through photography ltp - the school education program created by fotofest to help students in grades 3-12 strengthen basic learning skills, particularly writing and critical thinking. The learning program uses photography and visual imagery as tools to stimulate students' writing, comprehension, analytic abilities and communication skills.

    $91,067 spent$14,325 earned by the program
    11% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $818,815.

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 ($1.0M) Expenses 100 ($905k) Net assets 100 ($98k)2018 Revenue 164 ($1.7M) Expenses 194 ($1.8M) Net assets 19 ($18k)2019 Revenue 100 ($1.0M) Expenses 91 ($825k) Net assets 216 ($212k)2020 Revenue 133 ($1.4M) Expenses 182 ($1.6M) Net assets -75 ($-74000)2021 Revenue 137 ($1.4M) Expenses 89 ($809k) Net assets 525 ($515k)2022 Revenue 211 ($2.2M) Expenses 104 ($938k) Net assets 1721 ($1.7M)2023 Revenue 181 ($1.8M) Expenses 185 ($1.7M) Net assets 1642 ($1.6M)2024 Revenue 219 ($2.2M) Expenses 195 ($1.8M) Net assets 1592 ($1.6M)2025 Revenue 104 ($1.1M) Expenses 129 ($1.2M) Net assets 1579 ($1.6M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (104)Expenses (129)Net assets (1579)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 $915k to $2.0M (+114%).

$471k
$536k
$460k
$362k
$915k
$2.0M
$2.4M
$2.5M
$2.1M
'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 7% · 2018 6% · 2019 9% · 2020 25% · 2021 20% · 2022 14% · 2023 18% · 2024 16% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

86% of Fotofest 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. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$116k
’17
−$80k
’18
$194k
’19
−$286k
’20
$588k
’21
$1.2M
’22
$170k
’23
$466k
’24
−$104k
’25
0.2
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.

Board chair

Wendy Watriss

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed212324252824222224
Joined·+4+1+5+3+1+4+4+4
No longer listed·20405642
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $66k → $672k.

6 of 30 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 Fotofest 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

Fotofest Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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

26% 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 Fotofest Inc.

27%
largest funder
63%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 47% · 2019 57% · 2020 25% · 2021 33% · 2022 21% · 2023 37% — 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

44% of Fotofest Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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

87% of Fotofest Inc's grant income comes from Texas funders.

NY
PA
NJ
CA
MD
TX

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $296k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Fotofest Inc's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 13 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−10% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Fotofest Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $150k on record.

Federal$150k
grants $150kcontracts $0
18
20
22
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$150k

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 Fotofest 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 Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

70% of spending goes to programs.

Program 70%Management 20%Fundraising 10%

Governance

24
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

44%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Fotofest 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Fotofest Inc?
Fotofest Inc (Texas) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,520,391 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($961,500). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Fotofest Inc have?
IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $3,520,391 in grants to Fotofest Inc, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Fotofest Inc?
HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $961,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Fotofest Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Fotofest →

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 30 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