South Carolina · Nonprofit
METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL
METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL (South Carolina) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,197,703 to it, the largest being The Graham Foundation ($1,225,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.6M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $5.6M
What Metropolitan Arts Council does
Mission
The mission of the Metropolitan Arts Council is to stimulate and support artistic expression and its appreciation and enjoyment in ways that enrich all citizens, artists, cultural organizations, and communities of greenville county. We accomplish this by providing funding and other vital services to individual artists, arts organizations and arts education programs that greatly impact the economic well being of the community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The organization awards grants to local arts organizations, individual artists and arts education programs in greenville county, south carolina. In 2025, it awarded operating support grants to arts organizations and project grants to other arts organizations, individuals, and schools. These grants have allowed artists and presenting companies to expand their programs and services. Support made to local schools is vital in ensuring the arts remain an important part of secondary and higher education. Project support grants have also allowed individual artists to travel to different places to enhance their abilities while being great ambassadors for the greenville arts scene.
$2,023,907 spentof which $573,932 as grants92% of program spendingThe organization holds various arts events during the year. The gallery is home for the annual greenville open studios exhibit in november, the one-stop open studios retrospective in april-may, and the flat out under pressure exhibit in june.
$34,984 spent2% of program spendingSmartarts is a partnership between greenville county schools and the Metropolitan Arts Council that connects students, artists and teachers to deeper learning and self-awareness through integrading the arts with all areas of education. Arts integration is the collaboration between the arts and other content areas resulting in a richer, more complete whole that fosters deep, connected, personal learning in both areas simultaneously. The organization has had 86 out of 106 participating schools in greenville county since its inception. Since federal funding expired in 2007, the organization has raised over 4.4 million to continue and expand the program.
$147,135 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,206,026.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $3.4M to $5.2M (+52%).
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: 2018 26% · 2019 37% · 2020 26% · 2021 33% · 2022 20% · 2023 17% · 2024 23%. 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 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.
Board chair
Chris Fincher
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $61k → $491k.
5 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $201k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Prisma Health-Upstate). These are real filings, and they are not money METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL raised.
From the IRS filings of METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 61%; 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 28% · 2018 43% · 2019 30% · 2020 56% · 2021 45% · 2022 55% · 2023 51% — 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
74% of METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 83% 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
83% of METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $60k 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 METROPOLITAN 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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 METROPOLITAN 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 METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL?
- METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL (South Carolina) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,197,703 to it, the largest being The Graham Foundation ($1,225,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $3,197,703 in grants to METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL?
- The Graham Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like METROPOLITAN ARTS COUNCIL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 40 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