Funders › California

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts

Los Angeles, CA · EIN 30-0434789. Reported 78 grants totalling $2,162,000 to 57 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$25,000median grant
$2,162,000granted, 2021-2024
57recipients, as named on its returns
32%of grantees funded again the next year
$85.9Massets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $25,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $20,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $130,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$5,000 - $10,000
2 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
25 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
45 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants
$100,000 and Up
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Artcenter College of DesignPasadena, CA$230,000222024
Museum of Contemporary Art DetroitDetroit, MI$120,000332024
Los Angeles Poverty DepartmentLos Angeles, CA$111,000442024
Tate Americas FoundationNew York, NY$85,000112024
ClockshopLos Angeles, CA$80,000332024
Armory Center for the ArtsPasadena, CA$75,500332024
Fulcrum ArtsPasadena, CA$56,000222024
Los Angeles Contemporary ExhibitionsLos Angeles, CA$55,000222022
Women's Center for Creative WorkGlendale, CA$55,000222022
The American Friends of the Centre PompidouMontclair, NJ$54,000112024
Human Resources Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$51,000222023
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit-MocadDetroit, MI$50,000112021
Coaxial Arts FoundationLos Angeles, CA$48,000222024
Center for the Study of Political GraphicsCulver City, CA$45,000222022
JoanLos Angeles, CA$44,000222024
Echo Park Film CenterLos Angeles, CA$40,000222024
Side Street ProjectsPasadena, CA$40,000222022
Pieter Performance SpaceMonterey Park, CA$35,000222022
Avenue 50 Studio IncLos Angeles, CA$30,000112023
Filmforum IncLos Angeles, CA$30,000112021
Highways Inc Dba Highways Performance Space & GallerySanta Monica, CA$30,000112022
Human Resources Loas AngelesLos Angeles, CA$30,000112024
Laxart Dba the BrickLos Angeles, CA$30,000112024
PieterMonterey Park, CA$30,000112023
Vincent Price Art Museum FoundationMonterey Park, CA$30,000112023
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts CenterVenice, CA$28,000112023
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhbitions (lace)Los Angeles, CA$28,000112024
Self Help Graphics & ArtLos Angeles, CA$28,000112024
The Museum of Juraissac TechnologyCulver City, CA$28,000112024
Women's Center for Creative Work (feminist Center for Creative Work)Glendale, CA$28,000112023
California Institute of the ArstredcatValencia, CA$26,000112024
18TH Street Arts CenterSanta Monica, CA$25,000112022
Beyond Baroque FoundationVenice, CA$25,000112022
Future RootsLos Angeles, CA$25,000112024
Institute of Contemporary Arts LaLos Angeles, CA$25,000112021
La FreewavesLos Angeles, CA$25,000112022
Los Angeles FilmforumPasadena, CA$25,000112023
Los Angeles Nomadic DivisionLos Angeles, CA$25,000112023
Museum of Jurassic TechnologyCulver City, CA$25,000112021
The Industry (legal Name the Industry Productions Inc)Los Angeles Ca, CA$25,000112023
Vincent Price MuseumLos Angeles, CA$25,000112021
Velaslavasay PanoramaLos Angeles, CA$24,000112023
Automata ArtsLos Angeles, CA$23,000112024
Center for Land Use InterpretationCulver City, CA$20,000112021
Fulcrum ArtshomelaPasadena, CA$20,000112022
Future Roots Dba DublabLos Angeles, CA$20,000112021
LaxartWest Hollywood, CA$20,000112022
Santa Monica Museum of Art Dba Institute of Contemporary Art Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$20,000112022
The Aspen InstituteWashington, DC$18,000222023
La River Public Art ProjectLos Angeles, CA$17,500112023
Joan Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$15,000112022
SassasLos Angeles, CA$15,000112021
Craft ContemporaryLos Angeles, CA$13,500112022
La ArtcoreLos Angeles, CA$10,500112023
Active CulturesLos Angeles, CA$10,000112022
Poetic Research BureauLos Angeles, CA$10,000112021
The Aspen Insitute Artist Endowed Founation InitiativeWashington, DC$5,000112024

16 of 57 (28%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 32%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 45 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
38 grants
Education
2 grants
Social Science
2 grants
Civil Rights
2 grants
International Affairs
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202119$450,000$25,000
202220$440,000$22,500
202319$563,000$26,000
202420$709,000$28,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts has 1 of them, worth $250,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Tate Americas FoundationNew York, NY$250,000

Where its money goes

85% of its giving went to organizations in California. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

California
$1.8M
Michigan
$170K
New York
$85K
New Jersey
$54K
District of Columbia
$23K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund20 shared recipientsCalifornia Community Foundation20 shared recipientsThe J Paul Getty Trust19 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsThe Andy Warhol Foundation for the13 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust10 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $25,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in California.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 7019 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA, 90042. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 30-0434789 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

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