South Carolina · Nonprofit
PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER
PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,298 to it, the largest being JOHN & CAROLYN PETERSON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($73,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $625k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $189k
- Net assets
- $383k
What Public Works Arts Center does
Mission
Public works art center is an intentionally inclusive cultural hub and creative incubator. Here, artists and visitors of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities showcase and learn a variety of artistic disciplines, connecting with themselves and one another. These experiences enhance the vibrancy of downtown summerville and beyond.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Free admission program: this program allows every person in our community to experience ever-changing art exhibitions, and averaging around 2,500 visitors a month with three galleries that feature different artists every eight weeks (hundreds of artists displayed in 2025, including group and community shows), free crafts for all ages with every exhibition, and plenty of opportunities for adults and young people to have their work displayed,this program allows the entire community to be part of the mission of public works art center.
Art classes for all: in 2025, public works art center educated over 1,500 students. Mediums include oil painting, stained glass, needle felting, pottery, drawing, sweetgrass basket making, candle making, charcoal drawing, and so much more. Scholarships are available through the john and carolyn peterson foundation, ensuring that everyone has access to high- quality arts education.
Summer camp program: each summer, public works is open every week of the local school district summer schedule for summer camp, and in 2025, we had 237 summer campers come through our program thanks to a grant from the south carolina arts commission, we are able to offer full scholarships to anyone who needs it.
Public works art center is an intentionally inclusive cultural hub and creative incubator. Here, artists and visitors of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities showcase and learn a variety of artistic disciplines, connecting with themselves and one another. These experiences enhance the vibrancy of downtown summerville and beyond.
$425,426 spent$20,439 earned by the program100% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $425,426.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2022 to 2023, from $1.4M to $1.7M (+18%).
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: 2020 61% · 2021 24% · 2022 3% · 2023 52% · 2024 16% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
61% of PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (54% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 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
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $15k → $79k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER’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
PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
32% 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 PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 99% · 2023 42% — 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.
Where its funders are
PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $31k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER has grown faster than half of the 1,448 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,448 employment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $94k on record.
- DE$79k
- NJ$8k
- OK$7k
- FL$191
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 PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER
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
67% 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 PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER: 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 PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER?
- PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,298 to it, the largest being JOHN & CAROLYN PETERSON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC ($73,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $189,298 in grants to PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER?
- JOHN & CAROLYN PETERSON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $73,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC WORKS ARTS CENTER 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.
Play a game about who funds Public Works Arts Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 6 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