California · Nonprofit
SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART
SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,879,041 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO ($1,457,715). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $779k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $533k
What San Luis Obispo Museum of Art does
Mission
Art matters: we enrich our community by using art as a doorway to deeper insight and connection.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Located on historic mission plaza in downtown san luis obispo, the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art is a premier visual arts venue on the central coast of california. Rotating exhibitions are featured in the museum's three onsite galleries, as well as an annual rotating mural project on the museum's exterior. The museum's permanent collection conserves the region's artistic legacy.
$375,192 spent66% of program spendingArt education programming including classes and workshops for both adults and children, as well as weekly free docent tours of the exhibitions on view. Free monthly family art days engage generations to learn about and create art. The museum hosts guided group gallery tours for children and adults, also admission free. The museum also hosts free artist talks and curriculum support for k-12 classes.
$195,927 spent34% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $571,119.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.7M to $1.3M (−53%).
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 6% · 2019 1% · 2021 11% · 2022 34% · 2023 17% · 2024 12% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% 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.
Chief executive
Leann Standish
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 8 funders, grant income fell $260k → $189k.
7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART’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
SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 80% · 2020 100% · 2021 54% · 2022 85% · 2023 71% — 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
29% of SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
90% of SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART'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 $187k that is directly attributable, 51% of it comes from funders outside California, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1.9M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $337k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$252k
- National Endowment for the Arts$85k
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 SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF 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 SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART?
- SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART (California) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,879,041 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO ($1,457,715). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $1,879,041 in grants to SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO is the largest funder on record, with $1,457,715 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART 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 San Luis Obispo Museum of 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 22 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