Maryland · Nonprofit
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL (Maryland) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $201,130 to it, the largest being ISADORE & BERTHA GUDELSKY FAMILY FND INC ($78,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $201k
- Net assets
- $3.7M
What Howard County Arts Council does
Mission
To enrich and uplift our communities by advancing the arts, artists, and arts organizations for the benefit of all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Grant awards - to advance and support the arts, the arts council administers the following grant programs: community arts development, artists-in-education, baltimore city arts and cultural organizations, creative howard, organizational development, outreach howard, and the jim rouse theatre subsidy program. Additional grant programs are piloted and activated from time to time as needed. A volunteer artistic review panel is charged with evaluating all grant applications received from eligible organizations. The board of directors votes on the panel's recommendations and has final approval of the grant awards.
$770,939 spentof which $709,931 as grants47% of program spendingArt center - to encourage an active and supportive relationship between artists and the public, the arts council manages a 32,000 square feet multi-purpose arts center, which provides affordable studio and meeting space to artists, a black box theatre, and a dance studio for performances and rehearsals, classrooms for arts education, and two exhibit spaces for the display of various forms of visual artwork.
$507,905 spent31% of program spendingCommunity services - to foster and promote the arts, the arts council maintains a website that promotes upcoming programs and performances, develops partnerships to advance the arts, publishes a quarterly newsletter, maintains an active social media presence and online calendar of art events in the county, offers awards and scholarships, and provides various resources, technical assistance, advice and guidance on artistic development and art education.
$235,289 spentof which $10,000 as grants$342,243 earned by the program14% of program spendingSpecial projects - to ensure that the arts are accessible to all citizens, the arts council develops programs that reach out to underserved or new audiences. These programs may be ongoing or one-time pilot projects.
$116,635 spentof which $36,000 as grants7% of program spendingLong reach - in january 2020, the arts council was invited by the howard county government to develop and manage 16 individual artist studios at the long reach village center as part of their long reach rising revitalization effort.
$25,136 spent2% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,655,904.
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 2024 to 2025, from $2.1M to $3.8M (+82%).
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 69% · 2018 73% · 2019 73% · 2020 74% · 2021 87% · 2022 79% · 2023 76% · 2024 70% · 2025 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Coleen West
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $15k → $14k.
3 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL’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
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
47% 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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 63% · 2019 60% · 2020 35% · 2021 60% · 2022 29% · 2023 56% — 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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL draws 62% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $75k 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
HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $685k on record — $20k federal, $665k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
- Grant$665k
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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL: 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 HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL?
- HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL (Maryland) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $201,130 to it, the largest being ISADORE & BERTHA GUDELSKY FAMILY FND INC ($78,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $201,130 in grants to HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL?
- ISADORE & BERTHA GUDELSKY FAMILY FND INC is the largest funder on record, with $78,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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