Illinois · Nonprofit
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (Illinois) receives grants from 223 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,933,938 to it, the largest being Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Foundation ($25,750,000). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 223
- Grants received
- $82M
- Net assets
- $174M
What Museum of Contemporary Art does
Mission
The mca is an innovative and compelling center of contemporary art where the public can directly experience the work and ideas of living artists, and understand the historical, social and cultural context of the art of our time. The museum boldly interweaves exhibitions, performances, collections, and educational programs to excite, challenge, and illuminate our visitors and to provide insight into the creative process. The mca aspires to engage a broad and diverse audience, create a sense of community and be a place for contemplation, stimulation, and discussion about contemporary art and culture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Exhibitions: mca exhibitions seek to introduce audiences to the most important art and artists of our time. Exhibitions are designed to excite, challenge, and illuminate our visitors, explore current critical issues, encourage critical thinking, and to provide them with insight into the creative process. In the fy25 fiscal year the museum welcomed 180,991 across all its offerings.
$23,260,206 spent$2,649,025 earned by the program87% of program spendingPerformance: the mca presents cutting-edge dance, theater, music, as well as performances that cross and combine genres. Artists are in all stages of their careers, and local, national, and international. These include popular series like our tuesdays on the terrace, on stage, and chicago performs. Over 10,871 people attended these events, a number of which were free.
$2,003,809 spent$50,016 earned by the program8% of program spendingEducation and public programs: the mca's education and public programming department produce numerous programs that benefit community members of all ages and backgrounds. Our programs seek to create a continuum of lifelong learning, with an emphasis on school age children through our free family day programs, teacher programs, school tours, and partnerships with specific schools. Most of these programs are free. Over 11,968 people have been welcomed to these programs.
$1,396,869 spent5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $26,660,884.
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 2020 to 2021, from $199M to $232M (+16%).
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 7% · 2018 9% · 2019 8% · 2020 12% · 2021 14% · 2022 48% · 2023 13% · 2024 15% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Cari B Sacks
Board chair and trustee
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 67 funders to 89 funders, grant income fell $7.9M → $5.9M.
23 of 223 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 223 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
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 27% · 2019 37% · 2020 29% · 2021 44% · 2022 52% · 2023 22% — 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
44% of MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
89% of MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $738k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$458k
- National Endowment for the Arts$280k
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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: 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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART?
- MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART (Illinois) receives grants from 223 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,933,938 to it, the largest being Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Foundation ($25,750,000). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART have?
- IRS filings report 223 organizations giving $81,933,938 in grants to MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, 137 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART?
- Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $25,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Museum of Contemporary Art →
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 223 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing