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California · Nonprofit

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,180,528 to it, the largest being LINDA BRANDES FOUNDATION ($987,864). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.1M
Funders on record
31
Grants received
$2.2M
Net assets
$4.6M
20/31 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 54%
01What it does

What Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego does

Mission

to advance regional contemporary art and artists while fostering cultural equity through access to meaningful art experiences

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. ICA San Diego is a living laboratory for expanding the transformational power of contemporary art to build vibrant communities. Our exhibitions and events spark curiosity and open doors for new connections. Our learning tools help people connect the dots between art and their everyday lives. All our programs are designed to foster a thriving contemporary art ecosystem in San Diego. Programs include contemporary art exhibitions, classes, public progrrams and events, school outreach and on-campus tours, digital educational tools, and professional development for artists..

    $1,636,554 spent$304,321 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,636,554.

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 ($508k) Expenses 100 ($773k) Net assets 100 ($633k)2018 Revenue 55 ($282k) Expenses 83 ($642k) Net assets 49 ($308k)2019 Revenue 78 ($396k) Expenses 79 ($614k) Net assets 15 ($94k)2020 Revenue 109 ($551k) Expenses 64 ($493k) Net assets 24 ($152k)2021 Revenue 98 ($499k) Expenses 26 ($199k) Net assets 71 ($452k)2022 Revenue 367 ($1.9M) Expenses 266 ($2.1M) Net assets 832 ($5.3M)2023 Revenue 410 ($2.1M) Expenses 298 ($2.3M) Net assets 797 ($5.0M)2024 Revenue 416 ($2.1M) Expenses 331 ($2.6M) Net assets 726 ($4.6M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (416)Expenses (331)Net assets (726)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 $526k to $6.6M (+1151%).

$662k
$455k
$302k
$296k
$526k
$6.6M
$6.3M
$6.2M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 2% · 2018 41% · 2019 17% · 2020 11% · 2021 12% · 2022 20% · 2023 9% · 2024 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

82% of INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$265k
’17
−$360k
’18
−$218k
’19
$58k
’20
$300k
’21
−$191k
’22
−$222k
’23
−$449k
’24
0.4
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed121211137121013
Joined·+1+4+4+1+10+3+6
No longer listed·1527553
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $36k → $428k.

11 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

45%
largest funder
62%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 59% · 2019 68% · 2020 42% · 2021 68% · 2022 47% · 2023 60% — 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

42% of INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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

88% of INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO's grant income comes from California funders.

MN
NY
OH
CA
UT
MO
DE
AZ
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $465k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−21% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.4mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)23% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $103k on record.

Federal$103k
grants $103kcontracts $0
17
23
24
Top agencies
  • Institute of Museum and Library Services$73k
  • National Endowment for the Arts$30k

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 INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

64% of spending goes to programs.

Program 64%Management 23%Fundraising 13%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO: 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 INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO?
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,180,528 to it, the largest being LINDA BRANDES FOUNDATION ($987,864). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO have?
IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $2,180,528 in grants to INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO?
LINDA BRANDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $987,864 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO 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 Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 31 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