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FUND FOR THE ARTS INC

EIN 61-0479626 LOUISVILLE, KY

Revenue 2024
$5,294,543
Expenses 2024
$5,317,905

Program services were 80.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
A120
Classification
1200
Street
334 E BROADWAY STE 325

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

At the Fund for the Arts, we believe that art is a right, not a privilege because art is a fundamental expression of the human condition. We envision a healthy and vibrant community where everyone embraces the art that exists in our lives every day, where everyone contributes to the well-being of our arts community, and where everyone belongs. Our Mission is to contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting our local arts, artists and arts organizations.

Activities or mission (Part I)

Vision Statement: We envision a healthy and vibrant 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. Mission Statement: We contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting our local arts, artists and arts organizations.

  • At the Fund for the Arts, we believe that art is a right, not a privilege because art is a fundamental expression of the human condition. We envision a healthy and vibrant community where everyone embraces the art that exists in our lives every day, where everyone contributes to the well-being of our arts community, and where everyone belongs. Our Mission is to contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting our local arts, artists and arts organizations. The Fund builds a stronger community by investing in a broad range of arts, artists and arts organizations and artistic programs across the region. We work with our community leaders to best leverage the impact of the arts on community priorities such as equity and belonging, education, sustainability and health and well-being. Beyond funding organizations, projects, and programs, we provide support through convening, capacity building, promotion, and advocacy. To achieve this, we provide numerous programs for grant-making, in-kind resource support, and strategic planning for organizations that help empower every resident in our city to see themselves as an artist and a part of the city's artistic landscape. We continue to integrate equity and belonging further into the arts community as we help build capacity and access through our programs. Some of our programs and initiatives include: ARTS IN INSTITUTIONS The original Fund for the Arts initiative, Arts in Institutions is designed to invest in nonprofit arts organizations in the Greater Louisville area via the Sustaining Impact Grants. These grants provide unrestricted operating support to ensure the organization's ongoing capacity to fulfill their mission and drive community impact. All SIG recipients are required to illustrate their equity plan and efforts to diversify within their organization, as well as their efforts to support equity and inclusion in our community. Cultural Pass offers Greater Louisville families with children ages 0-21 access to arts and cultural activities, free of charge, all summer long. Cultural Pass is an innovative endeavor to promote a lifelong love of art and culture to young people, expand access to these organizations and arts providers, and improve summer learning in our community. On average, over 40,000 passes are distributed per summer, resulting in over 66,000 unique arts experiences for our community members. For 12 years, Cultural Pass has been a unique collaboration between Fund for the Arts, Louisville's Arts and Culture Alliance, Louisville Metro Government, Louisville Free Public Library, and additional regional library systems. ARTS IN LEARNING Arts in Learning supports investments in curriculum-based arts programs in schools and other learning environments for all ages, expanding access and learning through arts for students across the Greater Louisville area. Research from Americans for the Arts shows that not only do students engaged in arts programming achieve at higher and more consistent levels, but that young people's arts involvement drastically improves mental and physical health, graduation rates, and civic engagement. At the core of Arts in Learning is better cultural understanding, improved test scores, increased engagement, and critical learning skills. 5x5 and Teacher Artist Grants (TAG) provide funding to K-12 teachers and schools to enhance their classroom instruction with arts programming and experiences throughout the Fund for the Arts service area. These opportunities complement what students learn in the classroom and meet them where they are in out-of-school programming. ARTS IN NEIGHBORHOODS Arts in Neighborhoods supports programming and funding for community-centric arts events and experiences, community engagement activities, and mini-grants for existing event sponsorship. Our neighborhoods are rich, vibrant communities where people play, work, and create. When we partner alongside civic, arts, and neighborhood leaders to support and create intergenerational arts experiences within the neighborhoods themselves, we experience higher outcomes in building and reinforcing strong, healthy neighborhoods. I AM AN ARTIST. I Am An Artist. is a campaign to inspire and empower individuals in our community to reclaim their artistic identity, often in ways they don't expect. I Am An Artist. seeks to remove thought barriers and restrictive understanding of what constitutes art and artist, and think expansively about art and the things we create in our everyday lives. The I Am An Artist. exhibition, opened in the Fund for the Arts lobby in 2023, celebrates just a few of the over 600,000 incredible artists in the Greater Louisville area: the people who live, work, play, and create together in our City of Artists. We hope that by showcasing and uplifting more community members and their many artforms, everyone will be empowered to find their art and feel confident saying to the world, I Am An Artist. The more people in our community who self-identify as artists, the more in-tune they become with the art that surrounds us, the more likely they are to participate through art in our neighborhoods, the more comfortable the entire community feels engaging in arts across the city, the more connected we become.

    Expenses $4,288,884 · Grants $3,468,968 · Revenue $6,016,330

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Andre Guess

    President & CEO

    Total calculated
    $205,785
    From this org
    $188,978
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $16,807
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $221,250
    Bonus
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Deferred
    $8,550
    Nontaxable benefits
    $8,257
    Filer's total
    $238,057

  • Janie Buckler

    CFO/COO

    Total calculated
    $94,123
    From this org
    $84,465
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $9,658
    Hours/week
    40

    Schedule J breakdown matched by us

    Base
    $95,008
    Bonus
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Deferred
    $3,700
    Nontaxable benefits
    $5,958
    Filer's total
    $104,666

  • Kendrick Vaughn

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Phillip Poindexter

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • James Allen

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Josh Andersen

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Cleo Battle

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Neville Blakemore

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Kristen Byrd

    Chair Investment Committee

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Carolle Jones Clay

    Chair Governance & Nominating

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Charlie Farnsley

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Erica Fields

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Jon Goldberg

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Kim Halbauer

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Todd Klimek

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Mark Kull

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Brent McKim

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Yamilca Rodriguez

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Paul Thompson

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • David Wombwell

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Terry Wright

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Victoria Russell

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Scott Schaftlein

    Incoming Board Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Linda Schuster

    Board Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Nicole Yates

    Board Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

The first 25 listed. Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $5,294,543
    Expenses
    $5,317,905
    Contributions
    $3,871,389
    Grants paid
    $3,468,968
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $6,517,943
    Expenses
    $6,063,765
    Contributions
    $6,075,853
    Grants paid
    $4,007,863
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $5,743,197
    Expenses
    $6,442,461
    Contributions
    $5,454,254
    Grants paid
    $4,375,249

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $6,108,558
    Expenses
    $6,426,475
    Assets (EOY)
    $9,833,007

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $9,409,352
    Expenses
    $6,157,154
    Assets (EOY)
    $10,378,092

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $6,160,108
    Expenses
    $7,595,270
    Assets (EOY)
    $7,505,695

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,865,560
    Expenses
    $8,074,087
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,988,180

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $9,122,454
    Expenses
    $4,729,000
    Assets (EOY)
    $9,855,011

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $8,648,104
    Expenses
    $7,856,893
    Assets (EOY)
    $9,634,466

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,900,402
    Expenses
    $8,198,769
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,981,450

  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,763,228
    Expenses
    $7,057,469
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,803,056

  • 2013 · 990

    Revenue
    $7,753,572
    Expenses
    $7,573,590
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,549,767

  • 2012 · 990

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    $9,528,814
    Assets (EOY)
    $8,305,862

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

Grants made

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 26 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.