Kentucky · Nonprofit
KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC
KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,900 to it, the largest being CHURCHILL DOWNS INCORPORATED FOUNDATION ($250,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.3M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $358k
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What Kentucky Derby Festival Inc does
Mission
Provide creative and unique entertainment and community service for the people of the greater louisville area that directly contributes to the aesthetic, cultural, educational, charitable and economic development of the area. We will organize, promote and conduct events using the collective efforts and resources of volunteers, small and large businesses, non-profit organizations and governmental entities to enhance the positive international recognition, economic and cultural development, and community image of the greater louisville area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Provided kentucky derby festival events, including thunder over louisville, pegasus parade, basketball game, steamboat race, etc. To promote social welfare in the greater louisville area and throughout the state.
$4,355,064 spentof which $65,000 as grants$6,635,759 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,355,064.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $5.7M to $6.6M (+16%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Matthew Gibson
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $8k → $85k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $31k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Uofl Health-Louisville Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC raised.
From the IRS filings of KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC’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
KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% 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
30% 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 KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 70% · 2022 89% · 2023 59% — 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.
Where its funders are
91% of KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC's grant income comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Organizations like KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL 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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL 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 KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC?
- KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,900 to it, the largest being CHURCHILL DOWNS INCORPORATED FOUNDATION ($250,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $357,900 in grants to KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC?
- CHURCHILL DOWNS INCORPORATED FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KENTUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL INC 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.
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 6 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