Massachusetts · Nonprofit
STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE
STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE (Massachusetts) receives grants from 99 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,671,768 to it, the largest being HALVORSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($13,374,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $59M
- Funders on record
- 99
- Grants received
- $42M
- Net assets
- $684M
What Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute does
Mission
See schedule o for the organization's mission statement.please see description for part I, line 1, above.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
See schedule o for research and academic programs accomplishments.research and academic program accomplishments - as an international center for higher learning, the clark is driven by a strong commitment to the generation of ideas and a distinct focus on education. The clark's research and academic program encourages fresh approaches to advancing critical perspectives in the visual arts. Clark fellows, considered to be promising and established scholars and practitioners in the visual arts, foster intellectual dialogue and inquiry in the theory, history, and interpretation of visual culture. Conferences, symposia, a podcast, and online lectures focus on vital topics in the field and address questions that contribute to a broader public understanding of the role of visual culture. The clark's art research library, one of the largest in the country, serves both scholars and the public. Since its inception in the early 1960s, the library collection has grown from its base-the robert sterling clark collection of illustrated rare books- to encompass some 299,000 volumes in over 130 languages. The library's open and closed stacks and professional staff ensure that materials are readily…
$5,465,370 spentof which $339,000 as grants20% of program spendingSee schedule o for museum program accomplishments.museum program accomplishments: since its founding in 1950, the clark's collection has continued to grow, now consisting of over 10,000 objects, including over 500 paintings and significant holdings of works on paper and decorative arts. The collection features european and american paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the renaissance to the early twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in french impressionist and academic paintings, british oil sketches, drawings, and silver, and the work of american artists winslow homer, george inness, and john singer sargent. Based on the founding gift from sterling and francine clark, the collection has expanded over the years through numerous acquisitions as well as significant gifts and bequests, including the gift of sir edwin and lady manton collection of british art and the gift of george inness paintings by frank and katherine martucci. On october 21, 2024, the clark received a gift from the tavitian foundation ii, inc. Of 331 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and decorative arts objects, as well as up to $45 million for the…
$20,794,661 spent$1,693,586 earned by the program75% of program spendingSee schedule o for educational program accomplishments.educational program accomplishments: the clark conducts a full series of educational programs for the general public designed to encourage a wide range of audiences to explore, understand, and enjoy the visual arts in general and the clark's collections in particular as well as opportunities to explore, understand and enjoy nature on a magnificent 140 acre campus. These offerings include guided gallery tours, family activity guides, and community events designed for different ages and stages. Digital and web-based programming is created for general audiences and school audiences (including curricular support resources); these programs are updated regularly. Two interactive installations for independent visitor activity and learning were developed, including art/lab, a space that encourages exploration of a variety of art concepts for all ages and a postcard station, where people can make, write and send a postcard featuring the clark to someone they know. The clark's pedagogy emphasizes interactive engagement and conversation rather than the more traditional one-way flow of information from presenter to audience. This…
$1,616,678 spent$3,400 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $27,876,709.
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 2020 to 2021, from $593M to $748M (+26%).
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% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 3% · 2022 4% · 2023 6% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Denise Littlefield Sobel
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $939k → $7.4M.
14 of 99 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 99 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
STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 83% · 2019 65% · 2020 47% · 2021 85% · 2022 32% · 2023 73% — 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
40% of STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $797k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$767k
- National Endowment for the Arts$30k
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 STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Williams College · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE: 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 STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE?
- STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE (Massachusetts) receives grants from 99 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,671,768 to it, the largest being HALVORSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($13,374,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 99 organizations giving $41,671,768 in grants to STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE?
- HALVORSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $13,374,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 99 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