California · Nonprofit
FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION
FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $476,450 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($475,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $299k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $476k
- Net assets
- $542k
What Foundation for Creative Expression does
Mission
Our mission is to promote a deeper understanding of countercultural movementsfrom the beat generation, hippies, the civil rights movement, womens liberation, lgbtq+ rights, and beyond. As a dynamic space for learning, engagement, and inspiration, the counterculture museum explores the history, challenges, and lasting impact of these movements.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2025, the Foundation for Creative Expression developed and opened the counterculture museum, a new cultural and educational museum in san francisco dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history, ideas, art, music and social movements of the counterculture and their continuing relevance today. After several months of developing the museum space, creating and installing exhibits, preparing artwork and historical materials, and completing extensive improvements to the facility, the museum opened to the public on may 29, 2025.following its opening, the museum welcomed a growing number of visitors and gained significant local and national media attention, expanding public awareness of both the museum and its educational mission. The museum also developed an active schedule of public programming, including live music, author and artist talks, book signings, discussions and other cultural events that brought visitors together to explore counterculture history and its influence on contemporary society.
$278,146 spentof which $150,000 as grants$141,335 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $278,146.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $365k to $605k (+66%).
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.
57% of FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $50k → $250.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION’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
FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 98% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION'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 $1k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from funders outside California, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $475k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION
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
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION: 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 FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION?
- FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $476,450 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($475,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $476,450 in grants to FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $475,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOUNDATION FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION 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.
Play a game about who funds Foundation for Creative Expression →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 3 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