Maryland · Nonprofit
MAGFEST INC
MAGFEST INC (Maryland) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,691 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($5,687). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $13k
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Magfest Inc does
Mission
To educate the public about video game music, art and history; to promote public appreciation of video game music, art, and history; to undertake other charitable projects, programs, and activities not inconsistent with section 501(c)(3) of the irs code and state law.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The music and gaming festival is Magfest Inc's flagship event, occurring annually each winter. Magfest's library of historic gaming content contains console, arcade, and non-electronic exhibits dating from 1971 to the present. The magfest event gives its attendees the opportunity to experience gaming history. Magfest also exhibits video games created by independent developers, giving them a chance to demonstrate their work and accomplishments. Also, magfest features performances of music either arranged from or inspired by the music featured in video games. These performances preserve the art-form of video game music and promote the appreciation of it. Magfest provides a robust schedule of programming which includes industrial education presentations for attendees. The magfest event was created as an alternative to video game industry exhibitions, as these exhibitions primarily exist as a for-profit means of advertising. Magfest's main purpose is to provide a venue in which its attendees can learn about the history and culture of gaming.
$2,083,214 spentof which $47,284 as grants$2,771,001 earned by the program85% of program spendingMagfest, inc holds small events in various u.s. Cities to promote the magfest brand, and to also bring our mission content to people who cannot normally travel to our flagship winter event. These events usually feature live performances of music arranged from/inspired by video games, and also provides classic historical gaming exhibits for people to experience.
$371,199 spent$219,315 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,454,413.
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. 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 2021 to 2022, from $371k to $1.9M (+402%).
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: 2021 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
3% of MAGFEST INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Debra Rose Lenik
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $639 → $220.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 MAGFEST 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
MAGFEST INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
76% 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 MAGFEST INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 84% · 2021 100% · 2022 77% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
65% of MAGFEST 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 $4k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Maryland, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8k 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
MAGFEST INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding MAGFEST INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 MAGFEST 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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MAGFEST 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 MAGFEST INC?
- MAGFEST INC (Maryland) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,691 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($5,687). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MAGFEST INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $12,691 in grants to MAGFEST INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MAGFEST INC?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,687 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MAGFEST INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 5 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