New York · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC
FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,095,491 to it, the largest being BLANCHE T ENDERS CHARITBLE TR XXXXX5000 ($136,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $922k
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Friends of Materials for the Arts Inc does
Mission
Friends of materials for the arts (foma) is a 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to support materials for the arts (mfta) with providing public programming, material donations, and infrastructure that helps engage the nyc community to teach about creative reuse. The city of new york funds infrastructural and operational costs for mfta, and it falls upon foma, mfta's nonprofit partner, to support other initiatives to reach a broader audience through our education center, which currently reaches tens of thousands of people through our programing.founded in 1978, mfta is nyc's largest creative reuse center dedicated to supporting artists and arts organizations. Since its inclusion of public schools as members in 1998, mfta is proud to be the largest provider of free art materials to the nyc department of education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Mfta provides materials to 4,670 recipient member organizations. 416 (9%) government agencies, 1,871 (40%) nyc schools, 1,668 (36%) arts groups, 715 (15%) community and social service groups with budgets ranging from $20,000 to $500,000+. In total, 49% of mfta's members are government agencies. Mfta serves nyc public schools, arts nonprofits, city agencies and social service and social justice organizations that include artists, audience members, directors, choreographers, dancers, actors, set designers, art therapists, after-school providers, hospital staff, homeless shelters, teachers, students, and senior citizens. The socioeconomic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, and language of our member groups, donors, and volunteers are highly diverse, mirroring the richness of nyc. Today, mfta's donation cycle diverts over 2 million pounds of materials, valued at over $14 million from landfills. These quality goods are redistributed and made available to our organizations such as nonprofits and nyc schools, free of charge.the mfta education center, which consists of our artist-in-residence studio, designer-in-residence program, field trip program, in…
$611,314 spent$224,071 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $611,314.
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 2023 to 2024, from $926k to $1.2M (+25%).
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 1% · 2018 6% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 8% · 2022 14% · 2024 4% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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
Tara Sansone
Executive director
Board chair
Mattie Byrneheim
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $51k → $172k.
8 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 funders by total. 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
FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
37% 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 FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 50% · 2019 41% · 2020 45% · 2021 23% · 2022 24% · 2023 29% — 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
46% of FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
58% of FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $373k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC is better cushioned than half of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE 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.
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 FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC?
- FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,095,491 to it, the largest being BLANCHE T ENDERS CHARITBLE TR XXXXX5000 ($136,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $1,095,491 in grants to FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC?
- BLANCHE T ENDERS CHARITBLE TR XXXXX5000 is the largest funder on record, with $136,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Friends of Materials for the Arts →
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 35 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing