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WESTERN FOLKLIFE CENTER

EIN 87-0447025 ELKO, NV

Revenue 2024
$1,958,703
Expenses 2024
$2,416,261

Program services were 62.4% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
A200
Classification
2000
Street
501 RAILROAD ST

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

THE WESTERN FOLKLIFE CENTER IS DEDICATED TO EXPLORE AND GIVE VOICE TO TRADITIONAL AND DYNAMIC CULTURES OF THE AMERICAN WEST. OUR MISSION IS TO USE STORY AND CULTURAL EXPRESSION TO CONNECT THE AMERICAN WEST TO THE WORLD. THE WESTERN FOLKLIFE CENTER PROVIDES A PLATFORM FOR RURAL AND URBAN COMMUNITIES TO COMMUNICATE AND EXCHANGE NEW IDEAS AND AVENUES OF EXPRESSION. WE PRODUCED THE FIRST COWBOY POETRY GATHERING IN 1985. OUR NATIONAL COWBOY POETRY GATHERING CONTINUES TO CELEBRATE AND PROMOTE THE ARTISTRY AND INGENUITY OF LIFE IN THE AMERICAN WEST. IT REMAINS OUR SIGNATURE EVENT, WITH PROGRAMMING CHANGING TO REFLECT CONTEMPORARY REALITIES AND ISSUES OF THE AMERICAN WEST. THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, OUR FIELDWORK, RESEARCH, EXHIBITS, WEBSITE, AND ARCHIVES PRESERVE, DOCUMENT, AND SHARE THE HERITAGE OF THE WEST. OUR MEDIA AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ENTERTAIN AND ENGAGE, DEEPENING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE VITALITY AND CHALLENGES OF WESTERN COMMUNITIES.

  • "THE NATIONAL COWBOY POETRY GATHERING" IS A GRAND CELEBRATION OF WESTERN PEOPLE, THEIR LIFESTYLES AND TRADITIONS. AS JANUARY TURNS TO FEBRUARY, COWBOYS, RANCHERS, RURAL AND URBAN PEOPLE TRAVEL EN MASSE TO THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF ELKO, NEVADA, TO JOIN WITH FRIENDS, FAMILY AND ALL THOSE WHO SHARE THEIR LOVE OF RURAL LIFE IN THE WEST. TOGETHER, THEY LISTEN TO POETRY AND MUSIC, LEARN ABOUT COWBOY CULTURE IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD, EXPERIENCE GREAT ART, WATCH WESTERN FILMS, LEARN A CRAFT, AND GATHER TOGETHER TO EAT, DRINK AND SWAP STORIES. FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE - BOTH RURAL AND URBAN - HAVE MADE THIS PILGRIMAGE TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

    Expenses $838,447 · Revenue $716,888

  • MERCHANDISE SALES - THE CENTER MAINTAINS A YEAR-ROUND CULTURAL CENTER IN THE HISTORIC PIONEER HOTEL BUILDING LOCATED IN ELKO, NEVADA, FROM WHICH IT PROVIDES CULTURAL EVENTS AND MERCHANDISE SALES TO BOTH MEMBERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO FACILITATE A YEAR-ROUND EXPERIENCE, UNDERSTANDING, AND APPRECIATION OF THE DIVERSE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE AMERICAN WEST.

    Expenses $181,127 · Revenue $212,787

  • CULTURAL PROGRAMS AND OTHER EVENTS ARE ACTIVITIES, WHICH INCLUDES A MUSEUM, EXHIBITS, AND REVOLVING COLLECTIONS TO ENHANCE AND PROMOTE THE COWBOY CULTURAL HERITAGE.

    Expenses $405,476 · Revenue $98,662

  • MEDIA SERVICES INCLUDE RADIO AND TELEVISION SHOWS PROMOTING WESTERN AMERICAN MUSIC AND POETRY, ALONG WITH CD'S AND DVD'S BASED ON ORIGINAL FIELDWORK.

    Expenses $83,409 · Revenue $10,154

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

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.

  • KRISTIN WINDBIGLER

    EXECUTIVE DI

    Total calculated
    $149,162
    From this org
    $149,162
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • CHRISSY MENICUCCI BENNA

    TRUSTEE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • ROB DONDERO

    VICE CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JON GRIGGS

    CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    3

  • ANNIE HATCH

    VICE CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • JOHN PATRICCK RICE

    TRUSTEE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • REED SIMMONS

    TRUSTEE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • MICHELE SULLIVAN

    TRUSTEE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • TIFFANY TIBERTI

    TRUSTEE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • PRESTON WRIGHT

    INTERIM TREA

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $1,958,703
    Expenses
    $2,416,261
    Contributions
    $894,296
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $2,229,281
    Expenses
    $2,383,563
    Contributions
    $1,273,648
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $1,764,379
    Expenses
    $2,157,534
    Contributions
    $845,189
    Grants paid
    $0

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
    $1,317,220
    Expenses
    $1,553,119
    Assets (EOY)
    $4,175,367

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,001,627
    Expenses
    $1,234,814
    Assets (EOY)
    $4,620,143

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,871,145
    Expenses
    $2,054,795
    Assets (EOY)
    $4,616,225

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,593,748
    Expenses
    $1,904,281
    Assets (EOY)
    $4,819,250

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,593,748
    Expenses
    $1,904,281
    Assets (EOY)
    $4,819,250

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,686,079
    Expenses
    $1,849,113
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,152,895

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,608,840
    Expenses
    $1,796,046
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,426,489

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,742,076
    Expenses
    $1,765,601
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,423,186

  • 2014 · 990

    Revenue
    $1,583,793
    Expenses
    $1,956,000
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,465,827

  • 2013 · 990

    Revenue
    $2,643,985
    Expenses
    $2,116,679
    Assets (EOY)
    $5,996,489

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

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

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 23 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.