Fund for the Arts Inc
The Soul of Our City
Fund for the Arts Inc
EIN: 61-0479626
Mission
The mission of the Fund for the Arts is to maximize the impact of the Arts on economic development, education and the quality of life for everyone by generating resources, inspiring excellence and creating community connections.
Notes from the nonprofit
Thank you! Thank you to our donors, community partners, board, and staff for supporting our mission. And thank you to the artists and arts and culture organizations and their support networks who work in unison with the Fund to provide More Art for More People in More Places. Together we build a stronger more connected and vibrant community to live, work and welcome visitors.
Ruling year
1953
President and CEO
Mr. Andre Guess
Main address
623 W Main St
Louisville, KY 40202 USA
EIN
61-0479626
Arts and culture
Population served
Children and youth
Adults
Ethnic and racial groups
NTEE code
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (A12)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Tax forms
Communication
Affiliations
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reports Download other documentsWhat we aim to solve
Art is good food and good medicine. Through the power of art, Fund for the Arts aims to improve the health and well-being of the whole community. As reported by Americans for the Arts, arts activities increase residents’ interest in societal involvement by 86% and provide an average 20% increase in community satisfaction. Arts involvement encourages empathy, decreases distrust, and overall increases neighborhood safety, community trust, cohesion, and civic engagement. At Fund for the Arts, we believe art is a right, not a privilege. We envision a healthy and vibrant community where: EVERYONE EMBRACES the art that exist in our lives every day, EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES to the well-being of our arts community, and it is understood that EVERYONE BELONGS to the arts community.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Community Investment & Arts Services
Fund for the Arts supports the arts through providing operational and project-based grants to more than 650 schools, community arts organizations, community centers and artist (all our “Arts Partners”) across the region and directly offers a range of community arts services designed to advocate for and extend reach of the arts to the whole community. During the year ended June 30, 2018, the Fund approved and implemented a new strategic plan based on a community-wide cultural plan, “Imagine Greater Louisville 2020”. The strategic plan adopts the five strategic priorities identified by the community stakeholders: Access, Cultivation, Education, Promotion and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI). Our grants support these five strategic priorities.
The Fund also incurs direct program expenses in support of its mission including offering a range of community arts services designed to advocate for and extend the reach of the arts to the whole community. These community arts services support the five strategic priorities. Some community arts services include: Cultural Pass provides free access to many of Greater Louisville’s arts and cultural institutions during the summer months; Arts Innovation Awards fund an annual scholarships for students pursuing a career in the performing and visual arts; Art in Aging and Arts in Health; Education Awards for teachers who use arts excellence to enhance their curriculum; maintain a social media presence through Facebook, Twitter and You Tube; ArtsCARD to encourage arts patronage; "NeXt!", a leadership development program for young professionals interested in fostering corporate citizenship through volunteering and serving arts related organizations; provide capacity building workshops; and participate in other initiatives important to the success of the Arts community.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsTotal dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Artists and performers, Students, Teachers, Adults, Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In the past 3 years an average $5.7M in grants and programs has been invested representing an average of 83% of total expenses.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Fund for the Arts goals are centered around three major initiatives: Arts in Institutions, Arts in Learning and Arts in Neighborhoods. By investing in these initiatives, we help build a healthy and vibrant community through the arts.
Arts in Institutions: As a United Arts Fund, since 1949, the Fund for the Arts has supported core institutions that define the city’s arts identity. Over 68% of tourism in the U.S. is driven by art. People travel from long distances to experience Louisville’s world-class arts scene.
Arts in Learning: Learning initiatives supports investment in curriculum-based arts programs in schools and other learning environments, expanding access to arts, and learning through arts, for all students. These programs address academic achievement, physical and social emotional well-being, student participation, systemic barriers, and learning loss. Research shows that students who are highly engaged in the arts are more than twice as likely to graduate college and five times less likely to drop out than their peers with no arts education.
Arts in Neighborhoods: This initiative supports programming and funding for multigenerational, multi-disciplinary residencies, projects, and events. Research shows residents in arts-rich neighborhoods are 1.6 time more connected that those without and 86% of participants in community-based art want to be involved in future projects. Arts-rich communities have 18% less serious crime and 14% fewer reports of abuse and neglect. Additionally, neighborhoods with increased community arts activities demonstrated 5-10% increases in housing, population, school test scores, and a decrease in crime.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Fund for the Arts mission, how we create and sustain the community we envision is. . .We contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting arts, artists and arts organizations. In alignment with our mission, Fund for the Arts has three strategic priorities: GENERATE RESOURCES; COMMUNITY INVESTMENT & SUPPORT; and SUPPORT. Each strategic priority has defined goals, objectives, and metrics, all of which are aligned to fulfill the Community Investment and Support Plan.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Fund for the Arts has been a partner in supporting the nonprofit arts and culture sector since 1949. Our community partners, board, staff and volunteers continue to invest in and work to fulfill our mission of contributing to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting arts, artists and arts organizations. In the past three years, Fund for the Arts has invested $17.3M in grants and programs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
As we approach our 75th Anniversary, we look forward to continuing our legacy of investment and support. Fund for the Arts will generate the resources necessary to invest in and support our local arts, artists, and art organizations in order to ensure that we have a thriving arts community where: Everyone embraces the art that exists in our lives every day; Everyone contributes to the well-being of our arts community, and it is understood that everyone belongs to the arts community.
Fund for the Arts is one of the two oldest United Arts Funds in the country. In 1949, the founders of the Fund recognized the importance of arts to the community, and worked to raise and invest $99,000 in local arts organizations. Since then, the Fund has raised over a quarter of a billion dollars for the arts in the Greater Louisville area.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Fund for the Arts is a regional nonprofit committed to serving and building a vibrant COMMUNITY through the power of the arts. With the help of nearly 15,000 donors, the Fund for the Arts supports a range of arts organizations and drives accessibility across neighborhoods, schools, community centers and public spaces. We believe the arts fuel our regional economy, inspire student success, bring people together and simply make Louisville an amazing, unique city.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
The Arts & Racial Equity Task Force through a listening tour, provided specific needs for communities of color with respect to financial, space, DEI training for arts organizations and their boards and board diversity needs. The Fund has created advisory committees and have begun to address these needs by funding DEI training for 23 boards of arts organizations, in addition to the Fund board; the need for space (rehearsal/performance/studio/classroom, etc.) and developed a Board diversity pipeline. Grantees provided feedback regarding the grantmaking process changes have been implemented including updated applications and scoring rubrics.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2022 info
4.60
Months of cash in 2022 info
1
Fringe rate in 2022 info
15%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Fund for the Arts Inc
Revenue & expensesFiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
Fund for the Arts Inc
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
This snapshot of Fund for the Arts Inc’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
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Business model indicators
| Profitability info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $3,552,982 | -$129,578 | -$1,819,417 | $1,350,934 | -$177,760 |
| As % of expenses | 75.1% | -1.6% | -24.0% | 21.9% | -2.8% |
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $3,552,982 | -$129,578 | -$1,819,417 | $1,350,934 | -$177,760 |
| As % of expenses | 75.1% | -1.6% | -24.0% | 21.9% | -2.8% |
| Revenue composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $9,122,454 | $7,865,560 | $6,160,108 | $9,409,352 | $6,108,558 |
| Total revenue, % change over prior year | 5.5% | -13.8% | -21.7% | 52.7% | -35.1% |
| Program services revenue | 1.5% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Investment income | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 23.7% | 13.3% |
| Government grants | 7.3% | 3.9% | 2.5% | 2.1% | 19.2% |
| All other grants and contributions | 90.1% | 93.6% | 96.1% | 96.6% | 80.6% |
| Other revenue | 0.6% | 0.5% | -0.2% | -22.4% | -13.1% |
| Expense composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses before depreciation | $4,729,000 | $8,074,087 | $7,595,270 | $6,157,154 | $6,426,475 |
| Total expenses, % change over prior year | -39.8% | 70.7% | -5.9% | -18.9% | 4.4% |
| Personnel | 27.0% | 16.4% | 17.1% | 17.9% | 17.5% |
| Professional fees | 3.9% | 2.6% | 2.3% | 3.5% | 4.1% |
| Occupancy | 1.6% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| Interest | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pass-through | 48.0% | 69.1% | 67.2% | 64.9% | 70.2% |
| All other expenses | 19.5% | 11.1% | 12.3% | 12.3% | 7.1% |
| Full cost components (estimated) info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses (after depreciation) | $4,729,000 | $8,074,087 | $7,595,270 | $6,157,154 | $6,426,475 |
| One month of savings | $394,083 | $672,841 | $632,939 | $513,096 | $535,540 |
| Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Fixed asset additions | $2,004 | $0 | $3,091 | $0 | $0 |
| Total full costs (estimated) | $5,125,087 | $8,746,928 | $8,231,300 | $6,670,250 | $6,962,015 |
Capital structure indicators
| Liquidity info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months of cash | 5.0 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 1.0 |
| Months of cash and investments | 8.3 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 9.5 | 9.2 |
| Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 12.2 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| Balance sheet composition info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $1,964,843 | $1,359,777 | $1,147,646 | $1,368,685 | $535,396 |
| Investments | $1,290,848 | $1,306,462 | $1,333,052 | $3,500,130 | $4,406,428 |
| Receivables | $5,941,782 | $5,666,069 | $4,409,498 | $4,919,481 | $4,375,636 |
| Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $1,975,253 | $2,021,636 | $2,111,097 | $2,115,853 | $2,050,784 |
| Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 68.3% | 70.7% | 71.8% | 75.1% | 76.7% |
| Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 9.6% | 6.5% | 12.2% | 9.4% | 10.9% |
| Unrestricted net assets | $5,447,145 | $5,317,567 | $6,586,692 | $5,512,622 | $5,334,862 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | $3,298,228 | $2,928,542 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Permanently restricted net assets | $160,000 | $160,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total restricted net assets | $3,458,228 | $3,088,542 | $0 | $3,892,643 | $3,424,526 |
| Total net assets | $8,905,373 | $8,406,109 | $6,586,692 | $9,405,265 | $8,759,388 |
Key data checks
| Key data checks info | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
President and CEO
Mr. Andre Guess
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
Fund for the Arts Inc
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Fund for the Arts Inc
Highest paid employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Fund for the Arts Inc
Board of directorsas of 03/23/2023
Board of directors data
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Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/23/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
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- Letter of Determination
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