California · Nonprofit
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN (California) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,370,713 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($13,179,098). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $82M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $20M
- Net assets
- $84M
What Otis College of Art and Design does
Mission
Otis prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, their skill, and their vision.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Otis College of Art and Design prepares diverse students of art and design to enrich our world through their creativity, skill, and vision. The college provides an interdisciplinary education serving approximately 1,179 full-time students, awarding accredited bfa degrees in architecture/landscape/interiors, communication arts, digital media, fashion design, fine arts, product design, and toy design, as well as mfa degrees in fine arts, graphic design, and writing. Otis also offers continuing education and certificate programs supporting personal and professional development.
$51,047,747 spentof which $26,731,402 as grants$70,217,124 earned by the program71% of program spendingOtis college offers continuing education, extension, and certificate programs designed to support lifelong learning, professional development, and community engagement. These programs include non-credit courses, youth programs, and professional certificates that extend otis's educational mission beyond degree-seeking students and serve artists, designers, and community members at various stages of their careers.
$5,199,314 spent$6,857,025 earned by the program7% of program spendingOtis college provides comprehensive student support services that enhance academic success, student well-being, and retention. These services include academic advising, career services, library and learning resources, student life programming, and other support functions that directly advance the college's educational mission.
$15,618,461 spent22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $71,865,522.
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 $114M to $124M (+9%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
3% of OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 23 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $1.9M.
14 of 68 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 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
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
73% 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 OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 15% · 2019 59% · 2020 29% · 2021 21% · 2022 96% · 2023 66% — 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
27% of OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
70% of OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN'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 $6.1M that is directly attributable, 79% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN's revenue grew 51% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.7M on record.
- Department of Education$5.7M
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: 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 OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN?
- OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN (California) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,370,713 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($13,179,098). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $20,370,713 in grants to OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN?
- CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $13,179,098 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Otis College of Art and Design →
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 68 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