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Kentucky · Nonprofit

KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET

KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET (Kentucky) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,391,267 to it, the largest being BROWN-FORMAN FOUNDATION ($1,300,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.2M
Funders on record
60
Grants received
$5.4M
Net assets
$839k
38/60 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 22%
01What it does

What Kentucky Dance Council Inc Dba Louisville Ballet does

Mission

Louisville ballet makes moving art that respects tradition, encourages innovation, and fosters life-long learning. We inspire connection, conversation and a profound sense of community, by striving for bold collaborations, by nurturing the next generation of artists, by celebrating diversity, and by creating access for all.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The louisville ballet performed six productions serving over 30,500 audience members and a combined 70,963 individuals when adding the company's community engagement and school programs.

    $3,705,511 spent$1,565,565 earned by the program
    65% of program spending
  2. The louisville ballet school offers a variety of classes designed for students of all ages and disciplines. In striving for the development of each individual's full potential, the louisville ballet school community supports an appreciation for tradition and a sense of shared experience that prepares students for futures as artists, engaged citizens, audience members, and responsible young men and women. Louisville ballet community engagement programs serve over 18,000 people each year through dance education experiences across kentucky. Programming includes in-school residences, performance assemblies, after school programs, community workshops, student matinees, audience engagement initiatives and specialized partnerships with libraries, hospitals and social service agencies.

    $2,018,606 spentof which $584,207 as grants$1,773,105 earned by the program
    35% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,724,117.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($4.0M) Expenses 100 ($4.7M) Net assets 100 ($257k)2020 Revenue 102 ($4.1M) Expenses 101 ($4.7M) Net assets -123 ($-316582)2021 Revenue 76 ($3.1M) Expenses 66 ($3.1M) Net assets -133 ($-342139)2022 Revenue 118 ($4.8M) Expenses 103 ($4.8M) Net assets -151 ($-389018)2023 Revenue 125 ($5.1M) Expenses 110 ($5.2M) Net assets -189 ($-486378)2024 Revenue 160 ($6.5M) Expenses 126 ($5.9M) Net assets 52 ($135k)2025 Revenue 178 ($7.2M) Expenses 139 ($6.5M) Net assets 327 ($839k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (178)Expenses (139)Net assets (327)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 2022 to 2023, from $2.5M to $4.2M (+72%).

$2.4M
$1.9M
$2.1M
$2.5M
$4.2M
$4.6M
$4.7M
2019202020212022202320242025
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 2% · 2021 22% · 2022 16% · 2023 5% · 2024 3% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

52% of KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$637k
’19
−$573k
’20
−$26k
’21
−$43k
’22
−$96k
’23
$583k
’24
$683k
’25
1.5
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.

Chief executive

Leslie Smart

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.

2019202020212022202320242025
Listed29303633303833
Joined·+10+14+10+6+12+3
No longer listed·9813948
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $173k → $430k.

9 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $5.8M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Fund for the Arts Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET raised.

From the IRS filings of KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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

KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

24%
largest funder
50%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 43% · 2019 29% · 2020 32% · 2021 37% · 2022 52% · 2023 26% — 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

32% of KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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

86% of KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET's grant income comes from Kentucky funders.

WI
NY
IN
CA
KY
MS
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $782k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve1.5mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $12k on record.

Federal$12k
grants $12kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$12k

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 KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET

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 Kentucky

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 8%Fundraising 4%

Governance

31
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

87%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

KY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET: 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 KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET?
KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET (Kentucky) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,391,267 to it, the largest being BROWN-FORMAN FOUNDATION ($1,300,000). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET have?
IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $5,391,267 in grants to KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET?
BROWN-FORMAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like KENTUCKY DANCE COUNCIL INC DBA LOUISVILLE BALLET find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. 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 Kentucky Dance Council Inc Dba Louisville Ballet →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 60 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