Tennessee · Nonprofit
Kindling Arts Inc
Kindling Arts Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,520 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($7,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $287k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $14k
- Net assets
- $150k
What Kindling Arts Inc does
Mission
Kindling Arts supports innovative artists working in contemporary forms that challenge the limitations of conventional art and performance, providing audiences with exceptional experiences made possible through singular and often unclassifiable collaborations. Focusing on artists rooted in Middle Tennessee and the Southeast region, Kindling Arts will create a network for professional growth and artistic exchange in the contemporary South. This service to artists fills a gap in the cultural landscape, providing local creators with a home to experiment with the creation of new work and explore interdisciplinary collaborations in a safe, encouraging environment. By fostering an inclusive, artist-centered process, facilitating developmental opportunities, and providing producing support through an annual Festival and unique year-round programming, Kindling Arts will continue to raise Nashville's reputation as an extraordinary artistic force in the national cultural landscape.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The organization produced and presented Kindling Arts Festival 2025: Fortunes & Fates, a four-day festival of original contemporary performance featuring 19 all-local projects across 8 Nashville venues. The festival supported independent artists through the development, presentation, and public promotion of new multidisciplinary works, including theater, dance, aerial performance, music, comedy, interactive events, and experimental performance. This program furthered the organizations exempt purpose by creating paid presentation opportunities for local artists, increasing public access to contemporary performing arts, and strengthening Nashvilles independent arts community.
$111,214 spent$49,265 earned by the program82% of program spendingThe organization produced an annual immersive performance event, The Disco Ball, to support local independent artists and expand public engagement with contemporary and experimental performance. The event featured multidisciplinary performances, DJ sets, dance, drag, theater, and interactive artistic activations by Nashville-area artists. The program provided artists with performance opportunities, community exposure, and financial support through proceeds directed toward new works presented at the Kindling Arts Festival. This program furthered the organizations exempt purpose by supporting the creation, presentation, and accessibility of innovative local performing arts.
$10,400 spent$7,903 earned by the program8% of program spendingThe organization produced and presented a seasonal community performance program, Kindlings Very Special Holiday Special, featuring live theatrical performances by local artists in conjunction with a public holiday film screening. The program incorporated original performance elements, comedy, music, and theatrical interpretation to create an accessible multidisciplinary arts experience for the community. This program furthered the organizations exempt purpose by providing performance opportunities for independent artists, supporting local creative work, and engaging the public through inclusive community-based arts programming.
$8,566 spent$19,350 earned by the program6% of program spendingThrive Projects Development supported fiscally sponsored artist projects, with grant-funded activity continuing into 2026.
$5,000 spent4% of program spendingThe organization produced and presented an original theatrical work, East Nashville Facebook Page: The Musical, as part of its commitment to supporting contemporary performance and local independent artists. The production featured original writing, music, choreography, live performance, and production support from Nashville-area artists. Through public performances, the program created paid artistic opportunities, increased visibility for locally developed work, and engaged audiences with accessible, community-based theater. This program furthered the organizations exempt purpose by supporting the creation, presentation, and public accessibility of new performing arts.
$399 spent$1,854 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $135,579.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $15k to $150k (+902%).
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: 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of Kindling 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. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 Kindling Arts 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
Kindling Arts Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Kindling Arts Inc.
“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
52% of Kindling Arts Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $7k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7k 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
Kindling Arts Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Kindling 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 Kindling 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 Kindling Arts Inc?
- Kindling Arts Inc (Tennessee) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,520 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($7,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Kindling Arts Inc have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $13,520 in grants to Kindling Arts Inc.
- Who is the largest funder of Kindling Arts Inc?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $7,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Kindling Arts Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Kindling Arts →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 3 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