Virginia · Nonprofit
MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS
MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS (Virginia) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,811,993 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($356,050). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What McLean Project for the Arts does
Mission
Mclean project forthe arts (mpa) is a leading contemporary visual arts non-profit organization dedicated to connecting art and community. Our community is rooted in the mid-atlantic region; our mission is to serve artists and the public by exhibiting the work of emergingand established artists, fostering theunderstanding of contemporary art, and offering art education and instruction for people of all ages and potentials.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibitions: mpa hosts 8-12 museum-quality exhibitions annually, from curated exhibitions around a central theme to juried shows of over 30 artists. Our exhibitions and opening receptions are free, open to the public and fully accessible/ada compliant. Mpa exhibitions are frequently reviewed by the washington post with positive commentary about their artistic excellence. Our galleries are highly sought-after exhibition spaces for artists, having shown the work of approximately 3,500 artists over 60 years, and welcoming 1,500 in-person gallery visitors annually. In recent years (in response to the pandemic), mpa added virtual presentations of our exhibitions to our website and offered zoom exhibition openings and artist talks, and inprint and video presentations, all of which have expanded the reach of this aspect of our programming. Our virtual exhibitions have been well attended with approximately 80 participants per session. Although mpa has resumed all in-person gallery tours and programming to encourage and support exhibiting artists, we intentionally continue to deliver our programming online and in other formats to ensure the broadest accessibility possible across our…
$125,172 spent$18,075 earned by the program17% of program spendingArts & education center project: McLean Project for the Arts is uniquely positioned to pair its longtime commitment to the arts with the opportunity to create a regional epicenter for arts education and outreach. The envisioned result is a vibrant, 6,000-square foot facility in which the possibilities for creativity are boundless.to advance mpa's enduring mission of exhibiting, educating and inspiring, mpa is working to create a new mpa arts and education center. Mpa's expanded presence will complement the existing galleries and studio at the mclean community center with new interior and exteriorspaces in downtown mclean, virginia. The new campus includes galleries dedicated toexhibiting contemporaryart; state-of-the art classrooms and corresponding equipmentfordistinct mediums; a caf for artists and visitors; and a courtyard for outdoor learning andcommunity celebration of the arts.
$292,062 spent40% of program spendingArt education: mpa offers a broad variety of affordable art classes, summer art camps, and free workshops annually, educating over 1,200 art students of all ages and abilities. Mpa's diverse faculty members, experts in their chosen media, teach an expansive range of styles and approaches, and both virtual and in-studio classes are offered.
$161,736 spent$144,295 earned by the program22% of program spending4.artreach: mpa's central outreach program extends arts education into the community, focusing resources on individuals and groups with limited opportunity to visit a gallery or engage with working artists. Artreach centers on mpa's gallery exhibitions, offering artist-educator tours and hands-on activities which demonstrate art principles and incorporate concepts of the virginia standards of learning (sols). Mpa's award-winning artreach program is free and serves approximately 3,000 individuals annually. Mpa invests funds purposefully to engage students from title I schools, teens and young adults from under-resourced communities, and individuals from senior centers and community disability programs. Mpa offers free bus service to our galleries to all title I school participants. The mpa service area extends from dc's shaw neighborhood to the southernmost areas of fairfax county, including arlington and falls church. Through our virtual programming and the distribution to community partners of our educational activity flyers tied to our exhibitions, our artreach program offers extraordinary access to underserved communities. Mpa's partnership with servicesource, second story, and…
$154,322 spent$16,058 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $733,292.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.8M to $5.7M (+216%).
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 9% · 2021 34% · 2022 17% · 2023 17% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 2 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
Lori Carbonneau
Executive director
Board chair
Pamela Danner
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $44k → $139k.
10 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 funders by total. 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
MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
63% 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 MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 91% · 2019 39% · 2020 23% · 2021 36% · 2022 41% · 2023 30% — 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
71% of MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE 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
68% of MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $796k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $60k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$60k
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 MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE 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 MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS?
- MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS (Virginia) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,811,993 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($356,050). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $1,811,993 in grants to MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $356,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MCLEAN PROJECT FOR THE ARTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 McLean Project for the 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 42 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