Via Art Fund Inc
New York, NY · EIN 46-1396192. Reported 59 grants totalling $3,605,000 to 57 organizations across tax years 2021-2025, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Via Art Fund Inc, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A20) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 57 distinct organizations, with 5% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $60,000. Half of what it reported fell between $40,000 and $75,000; the smallest was $20,000 and the largest $175,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counterpublic | Saint Louis, MO | $175,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Front Exhibtion Company | Cleveland, OH | $135,000 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| Smithsonian Institute | Washington, DC | $135,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Candid | New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Contemporary Arts Museum Houston | Houston, TX | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Henry Art Gallery | Seattle, WA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Telfair Museum of Art Inc | Savannah, GA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Black Cube | Englewood, CO | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Monument Lab | Philadelphia, PA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Society of King's Chapel | Boston, MA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Amigos Del Museo Del Barrio | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Boston Public Art Triennial Inc | Boston, MA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Dia Center for the Arts Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Heart of Los Angeles Youth Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Institute of Contemporary Art | Boston, MA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Performa Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Philadelphia Contemporary | Jamestown, RI | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pioneer Works Art Foundation | Brooklyn, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Project Eats Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| PS1 Contemporary Art Center Inc | Long Is City, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Shed Nyc Inc | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Brick | Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tinworks Art | Bozeman, MT | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| US Biennial Inc | New Orleans, LA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Madison Square Park Conservancy Inc | New York, NY | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation Inc | North Adams, MA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sterling & Francine Clark Art Inst | Williamstown, MA | $55,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts | Omaha, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Buffalo Bayou Partnership | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Fund for Park Avenue New York Inc | New York, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Landmarks the University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Locust Projects Inc | Miami, FL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Portland Art Museum | Portland, OR | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Creative Time Inc | New York, NY | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| 1708 Gallery Inc | Richmond, VA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| 516 Arts | Albuquerque, NM | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Boston Center for the Arts Inc | Boston, MA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Granary Art Center | Ephraim, UT | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Indigo Arts Alliance | Portland, ME | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Museum of Contemporary Art | Tucson, AZ | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Native American Community Development Institute | Minneapolis, MN | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Participant Incorporated | New York, NY | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Project for Empty Space Inc | Newark, NJ | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Racing Magpie | Rapid City, SD | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Santa Fe Art Institute | Santa Fe, NM | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sculpture Center Inc | Long Is City, NY | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Stove Works | Chattanooga, TN | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Union for Contemporary Art Inc | Omaha, NE | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Utah Museum of Contemporary Art | Salt Lake Cty, UT | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wave Pool Corp | Cincinnati, OH | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bronx Museum of the Arts | Bronx, NY | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| California College of the Arts | San Francisco, CA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| More Art Inc | New York, NY | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Baltimore Museum of Art Inc | Baltimore, MD | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences Trust R51703008 | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
1 of 57 (2%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Counterpublic
TORKWASE DYSON: BIRD AND LAVA AND TORKWASE DYSON: BIRD AND LAVA - Curated Storefront
CHAKAIA BOOKER: UNTITLED LOCK 3 PROJECT - Telfair Museum of Art Inc (telfair Museums)
ALLISON JANAE HAMILTON: VENUS OF OSSABAW - Henry Art Gallery
RAFA ESPARZA: TEMPLE OF BOOM - Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
THEASTER GATES: FREEDMEN'S TOWN PAVILION (WORKING TITLE) - Monument Lab Inc
SONYA CLARK: THE DESCENDANTS OF MONTICELLO AS PART OF DECLARATION HOUSE
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 51 of 57 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | $820,000 | $45,000 |
| 2022 | 12 | $795,000 | $50,000 |
| 2023 | 14 | $790,000 | $50,000 |
| 2024 | 9 | $630,000 | $75,000 |
| 2025 | 8 | $570,000 | $75,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
26% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. 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.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $60,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Via Art Fund Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 8 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 219 West 19TH Street 2ND Floor, New York, NY, 10011.
EIN 46-1396192 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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