Connecticut · Nonprofit
FREE CENTER INCORPORATED
FREE CENTER INCORPORATED (Connecticut) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,056,676 to it, the largest being HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING ($726,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2022
- $195k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $8k
What Free Center Incorporated does
Mission
Mission: OUR MISSION & VISION Our mission is to provide access to space information and quality programs for those in our community. We stand at the intersection of art culture and organizing and we act as a vehicle for elevating the intentions and actions of our residents. Through community-led and community-oriented gatherings events and workshops we envision growth and a sense of deep belonging for our neighbors that grows out of meaningful engagement in our community. We imagine an ever-growing pride in the resilient and diverse cultures that define the cities we love. Program Activities: Independent Artists Fund: Support funding and programming for independent BIPOC artists in Greater Hartford Spring Free: Community-led street mural project Grow Free: community garden and education project Care free: Community info program around health and wellness specifically COVID vaccinations Free Space: Free Center has provided space to over 300 community-developed programs
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Select and fund projects for Independent BIPOC artists in greater hartford. Mentor these artists.
$183,245 spent$370,500 earned by the program54% of program spendingA youth summer program for Middletown Youth focused on sustainability and equity
$72,359 spent$86,000 earned by the program21% of program spendingA documentary film about the long-term generational effects of war crimes on a family.
$55,129 spent$90,558 earned by the program16% of program spending| Description:, Expense Amount:, Grants Amount:, Revenue Amount:| A summer program for Hartford underserved youth, $27632, $0, $36000|
$27,632 spent$36,000 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2021 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $338,365.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $177k to $8k (−96%).
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.
100% of FREE CENTER INCORPORATED’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 2 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
Richard Hollant
Executive Director
Board chair
Kamora Herrington
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2021 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $174k → $42k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% 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 FREE CENTER INCORPORATED’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
FREE CENTER INCORPORATED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 FREE CENTER INCORPORATED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 92% · 2021 90% · 2022 87% · 2023 71% — 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
50% of FREE CENTER INCORPORATED's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 30% 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
87% of FREE CENTER INCORPORATED'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 $141k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $916k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
FREE CENTER INCORPORATED's revenue fell 69% between 2021 and 2022.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,885 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2022
Government funding FREE CENTER INCORPORATED receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $76k on record.
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$74k
- State Aid Grants$2k
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 FREE CENTER INCORPORATED
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FREE CENTER INCORPORATED: 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 FREE CENTER INCORPORATED?
- FREE CENTER INCORPORATED (Connecticut) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,056,676 to it, the largest being HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING ($726,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FREE CENTER INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $1,056,676 in grants to FREE CENTER INCORPORATED, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREE CENTER INCORPORATED?
- HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING is the largest funder on record, with $726,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREE CENTER INCORPORATED find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Free Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2021–2022), and the filings of 10 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