Illinois · Nonprofit
THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK
THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $818,679 to it, the largest being Highland Park Community Foundation ($243,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $819k
- Net assets
- $441k
What The Art Center of Highland Park does
Mission
The organization is a non-profit art organization dedicated to education in the contemporary visual arts through classes, outreach programs, gallery exhibitions and events.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education - provide over 400 art instruction programs every year, led by a professional, working artist. The organization's facilities, supplies, and resources are on a par with any instruction facility anywhere. Students range from beginners to seasoned professionals enhancing their skills, from young children to seniors. Classes are offered on every level of need, including courses in other languages (currently in spanish), with a controlled student to teacher ratio.
$395,292 spent$479,875 earned by the program74% of program spendingExhibits - the organization is home to museum-quality galleries, and throughout the year, the organization exhibits new contemporary artworks by local, regional, and national artists. The organization exhibits artists ranging from emerging to established artists, featuring both 2d and 3d works in various media. The organization's galleries are the premier location on the north shore for a free, cultural, visual arts experience.
$132,891 spent$125,669 earned by the program25% of program spendingArt enrichment - offer members programs that include multi-level participation for seniors, students, family, and individual memberships. The affiliate circle provides experiential programming for a more robust membership level. With affiliate circle, the organization's staff visit artists in their studios, go behind the scenes with local art providers and arrange various special invitation events. Outreach programs focus on the underserved populations from other suburban areas that might not have a similar access to arts programs.
$9,084 spent$5,149 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $537,267.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.8M to $1.6M (−12%).
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 9% · 2021 27% · 2022 8% · 2023 2% · 2024 5% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
James Lynch
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $54k → $147k.
6 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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
58% 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 THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 34% · 2019 61% · 2020 25% · 2021 43% · 2022 31% · 2023 34% — 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
34% of THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK'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
88% of THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $388k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 17 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
48% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK: 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 THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK?
- THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $818,679 to it, the largest being Highland Park Community Foundation ($243,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $818,679 in grants to THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK?
- Highland Park Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $243,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ART CENTER OF HIGHLAND PARK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Art Center of Highland Park →
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 46 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