Nevada · Nonprofit
SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC
SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC (Nevada) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,121,718 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($1,370,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $554k
What Sierra Arts Foundation Inc does
Mission
Sierra arts is dedicated to aiding, encouraging, advising, assisting & correlating activities to promote art & culture in washoe county, nv and neighboring communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Sierra arts foundation is deeply committed to fostering community driven arts engagements that enrich the lives of all who reside and work within the northern nevada region. Our dedication to enhancing the well-being of our community is exemplified through various initiatives such as the elder care concert series and healing arts programs, which bring the transformative power of the arts to local medical facilities and beyond. Through sierra arts galleries and academy, our bookstore featuring northern nevada published authors, poets, and illustrators, and the galleries at work program for local businesses, we create dynamic spaces for artistic expression and collaboration, fostering a vibrant cultural ecosystem. Our strong partnerships with the city of reno, city of sparks, carson city, and washoe county enable us to amplify our impact and reach diverse audiences.
$914,777 spent$1,003,633 earned by the program91% of program spendingOur foundation stands as a steadfast pillar of support for artists, offering a multifaceted array of resources and opportunities aimed at nurturing their careers and facilitating their growth. Through professional development initiatives, we equip artists with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in the ever-evolving art landscape. Sierra arts foundation goes above and beyond in its support of artists by offering comprehensive health insurance coverage, recognizing the importance of safeguarding their well-being. This additional benefit ensures that artists have access to essential healthcare services, providing peace of mind and stability as they pursue their creative endeavors. By prioritizing the health and welfare of artists, we demonstrate our unwavering commitment to their holistic success and flourishing within the artistic community.
$49,003 spent$12,321 earned by the program5% of program spendingThe sierra arts foundation is a leader in arts education and integration programming within our local community. By recruiting local artists of various art disciplines, we are able to train them to teach in tandem with classroom educators. Resident teaching artists use their art form to enhance and engage the students creative process while connecting those principals to core curriculum learning. The schools sierra arts foundation partners with have primarily title 1, underserved and at risk adolescents and incarcerated youth populations. The sierra arts foundations programming provides quality standard based instruction in areas where there is no access to arts education.
$25,332 spent$2,165 earned by the program3% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$17,550 spent$6,250 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,006,662.
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 $690k to $855k (+24%).
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 46% · 2018 64% · 2019 10% · 2020 11% · 2021 21% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
9% of SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 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
Tracy Oliver
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $338k → $661k.
14 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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 SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION 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
SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% 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
81% 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 SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 70% · 2018 41% · 2019 35% · 2020 63% · 2021 74% · 2022 57% · 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.
How long its funders stay
39% of SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
78% of SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC'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 $927k that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside Nevada, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC's revenue grew 38% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION 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 Nevada
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION 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 SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC?
- SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC (Nevada) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,121,718 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($1,370,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $4,121,718 in grants to SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,370,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SIERRA ARTS FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nevada. 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 Sierra Arts →
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 29 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