North Carolina · Nonprofit
Madison County Arts Council
Madison County Arts Council (North Carolina) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $345,340 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($186,450). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $732k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $345k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Madison County Arts Council does
Mission
Strengthening Community through the Arts.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Festivals: This annual festival, held each June on the grounds of Hot Springs Resort and Spa, showcases some of the best traditional music and dance in WNC. In 2024, we also had a silent auction and artists vendors, along with community organizations providing food options. More than 70 artists performed-from preteens to octogenarians-and more than 2,000 attendees enjoyed the show. Due to Helene, we were unable to present our Art-On-the-Island Festival in late September.
$214,487 spentof which $800 as grants$36,709 earned by the program100% of program spendingEducation: Our Junior Appalachian Musician program had strong registration for the spring semester, and our JAM Summer Camp hosted 25 students and taught not only musical skills, but also community-building skills, which would be needed when Helene paused our Fall semester, in which 70 students were enrolled. The semester restarted on Halloween at Woodson Branch Nature School, providing students a chance to reconnect with their music and lean on their community as we all worked to process what had happened in and after the storm. Our First Stage Youth Theatre program also provided group educational opportunities in a Spring semester and a summer camp that culminated in a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Exhibits and Sales: Each year we host up to 8 gallery exhibits. In 2024, we hosted Youth Art Month, FRESH (a show of new work), a show with the Asheville Printmakers, and an Appalachian Barn Alliance Exhibit. Openings for each of the shows brought in strong crowds, and sales from the shows supported artist and MCAC. After Helene, we were able to host our annual Holiday Sale at Mars Landing Galleries in Mars Hill. This sale featured work from more than 47 artists, providing a much-needed economic boost for many who had experienced loss and damage from the storms. The Holiday Sale outperformed the 2023 version (grossing $23,341.36) and provided a community bright spot to end 2024.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $214,487.
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 $563k to $931k (+65%).
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 24% · 2018 30% · 2019 36% · 2020 41% · 2021 67% · 2022 20% · 2023 24% · 2024 12%. 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 8 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
Brandon Johnson
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $554 → $74k.
5 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 Madison County Arts Council’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
Madison County Arts Council leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% 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 Madison County Arts Council.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 99% · 2020 100% · 2021 60% · 2022 82% · 2023 86% — 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
25% of Madison County Arts Council's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
70% of Madison County Arts Council'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 $105k that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $240k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Organizations like Madison County Arts Council
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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 Madison County Arts Council: 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 Madison County Arts Council?
- Madison County Arts Council (North Carolina) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $345,340 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC ($186,450). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Madison County Arts Council have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $345,340 in grants to Madison County Arts Council, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Madison County Arts Council?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC is the largest funder on record, with $186,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Madison County Arts Council find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Madison County Arts Council →
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 10 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