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Utah · Nonprofit

Sundance Institute

Sundance Institute (Utah) receives grants from 228 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,199,064 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,608,172). 127 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$42M
Funders on record
228
Grants received
$81M
Net assets
$67M
127/228 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 30%
01What it does

What Sundance Institute does

Mission

Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Sundance Film Festival Program - See Schedule O.

    $15,499,514 spent$12,117,267 earned by the program
    46% of program spending
  2. Documentary film program: the documentary film program ("dfp") provides financial and creative resources to nonfiction filmmakers around the world. Through open applications, the documentary fund provides more than two million dollars in non-recoupable film financing each year, and labs focused on editing and producing support both emerging and experienced makers. Dfp-supported artists also receive ongoing strategic and creative support throughout the life cycle of their film.

    $3,030,803 spent$2,065,000 earned by the program
    9% of program spending
  3. Digital festival: the digital festival provided access to the sundance film festival program through its online platform and expanded the organization's reach and accessibility to patrons around the world. The program included both feature length and short films.

    $2,723,514 spent
    8% of program spending
  4. Equity, Impact, & Belonging - Total Expenses: $1,882,405; Grants: $454,000; Revenue: $0 Collab - Total Expenses: $1,752,907; Grants: $0; Revenue: $894,256 Public Programming - Total Expenses: $1,304,384; Grants: $0; Revenue: $157,631 Producers Program - Total Expenses: $1,225,007; Grants: $20,000; Revenue: $151,674 Feature Film Program - Total Expenses: $1,161,862; Grants: $173,000; Revenue: $133,040 Indigenous Program - Total Expenses: $900,351; Grants: $216,300; Revenue: $6,026 Episodic Program - Total Expenses: $388,933; Grants: $17,000; Revenue: $59,780 Other - Total Expenses: $3,707,311; Grants: $0; Revenue: $16,275

    $12,323,160 spentof which $880,300 as grants$1,418,681 earned by the program
    37% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $33,576,991.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($41M) Expenses 100 ($43M) Net assets 100 ($42M)2018 Revenue 123 ($51M) Expenses 105 ($45M) Net assets 118 ($50M)2019 Revenue 142 ($59M) Expenses 117 ($50M) Net assets 138 ($58M)2020 Revenue 135 ($56M) Expenses 115 ($49M) Net assets 156 ($65M)2021 Revenue 82 ($34M) Expenses 92 ($40M) Net assets 154 ($65M)2022 Revenue 141 ($59M) Expenses 105 ($45M) Net assets 171 ($72M)2023 Revenue 109 ($45M) Expenses 115 ($49M) Net assets 162 ($68M)2024 Revenue 101 ($42M) Expenses 110 ($47M) Net assets 159 ($67M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (101)Expenses (110)Net assets (159)Peer revenue range

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 $64M to $74M (+15%).

$48M
$55M
$64M
$74M
$74M
$79M
$75M
$73M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 5% · 2018 4% · 2019 4% · 2020 7% · 2021 15% · 2022 25% · 2023 12% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

62% of Sundance Institute’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 810 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.5M
’17
$5.9M
’18
$8.7M
’19
$6.7M
’20
−$5.5M
’21
$13M
’22
−$4.2M
’23
−$5.2M
’24
3.1
months of
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

Ebs Burnough

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed4140425350494550
Joined·+2+7+13+5+8+9+9
No longer listed·35289134
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 54 funders to 87 funders, grant income rose $7.6M → $9.3M.

41 of 228 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 Sundance Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 228 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

Sundance Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left

40% 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 Sundance Institute.

12%
largest funder
30%
top three
~21
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 13% · 2018 17% · 2019 14% · 2020 16% · 2021 12% · 2022 14% · 2023 17% — 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

39% of Sundance Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

Sundance Institute draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Utah, across 26 states in all.

WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
MD
DE
AZ
KS
DC
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Utah out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $28M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Sundance Institute's funding base is broadening — from 54 funders to 87 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−12% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve3.1mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)0% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding Sundance Institute receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.1M on record.

Federal$3.1M
grants $3.1Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$1.6M
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$1.5M

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 Sundance 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 Utah

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

76% of spending goes to programs.

Program 76%Management 17%Fundraising 7%

Governance

32
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

91%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 39 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Sundance Institute of California Inc · exempt
  • Sundance Children's Theater Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Sundance 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Sundance Institute?
Sundance Institute (Utah) receives grants from 228 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,199,064 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,608,172). 127 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Sundance Institute have?
IRS filings report 228 organizations giving $81,199,064 in grants to Sundance Institute, 127 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Sundance Institute?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $9,608,172 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Sundance Institute find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Utah. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 228 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