New York · Nonprofit
THE DRAWING CENTER INC
THE DRAWING CENTER INC (New York) receives grants from 124 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,231,953 to it, the largest being THE POSES FAMILY FOUNDATION ($715,450). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 124
- Grants received
- $7.2M
- Net assets
- $10M
What The Drawing Center Inc does
Mission
The drawing center, a museum in manhattan's soho district, explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. Its activities-which are both multi-disciplinary and broadly historical-include exhibitions; site specific installations; the "drawing papers" publication series; public programs; and educational initiatives for school and community groups.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Expressing the universality of drawing, the drawing center presents extraordinary works on paper from a wide range of traditions. Exhibitions have featured drawings by tattoo artists, chefs, novelists, and prisoners alongside visual artists, as well as significant international collections of works on paper. This expansive vision-combined with the scholarly rigor and exhibition standards of much larger museums-makes the drawing center a singular institution in new york city and internationally. Founded in soho in 1977 and first housed in a ground-floor warehouse at 137 greene street, the drawing center moved to its current home at 35 wooster street in 1987. After nearly fifty years, it continues to serve as a beloved neighborhood institution and a global leader in the study and celebration of drawing. In the past year, the drawing center engaged individuals of all ages both on-site in soho and off-site in various public and educational settings. Through a wide range of programming, diverse audiences were given the opportunity to explore the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. Exhibitions presented at…
$2,492,734 spent$301,508 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,492,734.
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 2024 to 2025, from $11M to $12M (+8%).
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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 4% · 2020 4% · 2021 8% · 2022 9% · 2023 4% · 2024 3% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of THE DRAWING CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 4 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
Laura Hoptman
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $266k → $1.1M.
14 of 124 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $3k from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Richman Family Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE DRAWING CENTER INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE DRAWING CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 124 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 DRAWING CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
29% 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 DRAWING CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 33% · 2019 22% · 2020 13% · 2021 13% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% — 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
41% of THE DRAWING CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
64% of THE DRAWING CENTER INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 DRAWING CENTER INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE DRAWING CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $75k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$75k
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 THE DRAWING CENTER 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 THE DRAWING CENTER 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 THE DRAWING CENTER INC?
- THE DRAWING CENTER INC (New York) receives grants from 124 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,231,953 to it, the largest being THE POSES FAMILY FOUNDATION ($715,450). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE DRAWING CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 124 organizations giving $7,231,953 in grants to THE DRAWING CENTER INC, 70 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE DRAWING CENTER INC?
- THE POSES FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $715,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE DRAWING CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Drawing Center →
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 124 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