Maine · Nonprofit
LA ARTS
LA ARTS (Maine) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $256,700 to it, the largest being Elmina B Sewall Foundation ($85,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $242k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $257k
- Net assets
- $419k
What La Arts does
Mission
To increase awareness, appreciation, and support of the arts in the lewiston and auburn area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Art walk la - a series of community events featuring art exhibitions in downtown stores and galleries, along with musical and other performances in public spaces, typically held once a month in the five warmest months and available free to all residents and visitors. Serving over 500 people
$19,041 spent17% of program spendingVisual arts programming - exhibits of work by local and regional artists in our gallery at 168 lisbon st., lewiston, and other local sites; commissioning and publicizing works of public arts in the community.
$15,251 spent13% of program spendingPerforming arts programming - presenting concerts by local and national musical groups, and hosting storytelling and other open-mic events, all in our space at 168 lisbon st., lewiston, and elsewhere.
$79,065 spent$18,755 earned by the program70% of program spendingLa Arts is a founding and facilitating member of arts & culture lewiston auburn (acla), a marketing collective of 19 arts and cultural organizations in central maine that advocates and promotes their work to the public. Acla develops audiences and increases awareness of arts and cultural experiences for the greater la region.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $113,357.
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 $123k to $254k (+106%).
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 22% · 2018 36% · 2019 48% · 2020 38% · 2021 21% · 2022 70% · 2023 54% · 2024 27% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Board chair
James Parakilas
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $19k → $46k.
1 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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 LA ARTS’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
LA ARTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 100% · 2020 47% · 2021 49% · 2022 49% · 2023 55% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of LA ARTS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
73% of LA ARTS's grant income comes from Maine funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Organizations like LA ARTS
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 Maine
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LA ARTS: 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 LA ARTS?
- LA ARTS (Maine) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $256,700 to it, the largest being Elmina B Sewall Foundation ($85,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LA ARTS have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $256,700 in grants to LA ARTS, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LA ARTS?
- Elmina B Sewall Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $85,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LA ARTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 La Arts →
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 11 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