Oklahoma · Nonprofit
Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc
Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc (Oklahoma) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $979,681 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($347,486). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $980k
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc does
Mission
The mission of Oklahoma Humanities (OH) is to strengthen communities by helping Oklahomans learn about the human experience, understand new perspectives, and participate knowledgeably in civic life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Due to the DOGE forced cancellation of the NEH Federal-State Partnership contracts, Oklahoma HUmanities lost over 80% of its funding. The Council ceased its subaward programming, ceased the mailing of its award-winning magazine and decreased the volumes issued to one digital edition per calendar year, ceased the partnership with The Smithsonian for their Museum of Main Street (MoMS) traveling exhibit program, and reconfigured the Lets Talk About It (LTAI) program to be an abridged version (from 5-6 books per site to 1 book at limited sites). While the Council was able to keep two programs going if very new capacities, Oklahoma Humanities had to decrease its state-wide programatic impact by 90%.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Support for various programs and free public events produced by the Council. (Some expenses in this category may apply to other listed programs, but the expenses are not directly attributable based on cost center like salary or office rent.)
$350,136 spent61% of program spendingOklahoma Humanities grants encourage cultural programming on the local level across the state. Eligible projects must support the Councils mission to strengthen communities by helping Oklahomans learn about the human experience, understand new perspectives, and participate knowledgeably in civic life. Through special initiatives, Oklahoma Humanities also provided funding for national projects like United We Stand, National History Day, and continued scholarly research on the humanities.
$148,496 spentof which $148,496 as grants$148,496 earned by the program26% of program spendingSince 1985, Oklahomans have started new chapters and new conversations with OHs dynamic book club program, Lets Talk About It (LTAI). Hosted by libraries and other organizations, each LTAI series uses four or five books to explore a specific theme developed by a humanities scholar. Combined with presentations from literary experts, LTAI catalyzes meaningful conversation and encourages readers to reflect on their experiences, share thoughts and ideas, consider diverse perspectives, and gain new insight.
$61,899 spentof which $53,002 as grants$49,137 earned by the program11% of program spendingFree of advocacy and advertising and supported by donors, the award-winning Oklahoma Humanities magazine is distributed in print and online as free educational programming. From public policy issues to cultural heritage, it provides an engaging forum for new ideas and productive civil discoursea rich mix of humanities scholarship, insightful narratives, and informed opinions for a read that is smart, balanced, educational, and entertaining. It reaches all 77 counties and has a circulation of 12,000 with additional public distribution through classrooms and selected events. Previous authors include N. Scott Momaday, Walter Isaacson, Krista Tippett, Bryan Stevenson, Michael Sandel, Naomi Shihab Nye, and more.
$9,140 spent2% of program spendingSince 1994, the Smithsonian Institutions Museum on Main Street (MoMS) has worked with State Humanities Councils to empower more than 1,800 rural communities through specifically designed exhibitions and public programming. Hosted by libraries, museums, and other community centers, each explores elements of rural history, encourages discussion and participation, and helps establish local agency. In 2021, Crossroads: Change in Rural America arrived in Oklahoma and traveled to Tishomingo, Fort Gibson, Nowata, Woodward, Pawnee, and Boley. Small towns might seem static and quiet, but they are complex intersections where people and ideas converge and evolve. Through the themes of identity, land, community, persistence, and managing change, the exhibition examined this history and asked visitors to consider how and why their specific communities have changed and what the future might bring.
$4,838 spent$9,250 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $574,509.
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 $2.8M to $2.0M (−30%).
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 85% · 2018 92% · 2019 87% · 2020 90% · 2021 78% · 2022 110% · 2023 83% · 2024 98% · 2025 68%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc’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. 3 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
Caroline E Lowery
Executive Director
Board chair
Sarah Milligan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $41k → $110k.
4 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Oklahoma Humanities Council 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
Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 74%; 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 Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 91% · 2019 44% · 2020 45% · 2021 53% · 2022 46% · 2023 33% — 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
83% of Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Oklahoma, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $142k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 9 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.3M on record — $9.3M federal, $36k state.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$9.3M
- Pmts-Local Gov't-Gen Govt$20k
- Pmts-Local Gov't-Hlth,Soc Svc$15k
- Registration - Agency Direct$550
- Refunds-Overpayment Charges$321
- Royalties$280
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 Oklahoma Humanities Council 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 Oklahoma
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
47% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
37%
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 Oklahoma Humanities Council 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 Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc?
- Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc (Oklahoma) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $979,681 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($347,486). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $979,681 in grants to Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc?
- FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $347,486 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Oklahoma Humanities Council Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oklahoma. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 17 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