Study: Taxpayers Funding Costly Federal Grants for the Arts

A study by the Illinois based group, Openthebooks.com found millions of dollars in federal arts grants is going to wealthy non-profits, all paid for by taxpayers. The group is one of the nation’s largest private database of government spending and broke down the numbers on the National Endowment of Arts and Humanities. Their findings suggest the majority of the grants go to wealthy nonprofits, some of which already have endowments already over 1 billion dollars. 

Openthebooks.com CEO Adam Andrzejewski is  a classical violinist and a strong supporter of the arts, but he said he takes issue with the public funding. “My daughters dance in the pre-professional ballet. But, when it comes to public funding of the arts and prestigious organizations with billion dollar balance sheets, there needs to be reform in the funding.” 

Andrzejewski  said,  according to the study, in terms of non profit grant making there was ” 183 million dollars granted in fiscal year 2016 and much or this, about 100 million dollars of it went to organizations with over 10 million dollars of existing financial assets. They didn’t need taxpayer money but they took it anyway.” 

The group looked at 3,200 organizations that received 441 million dollars in federal grants last year. Organizations with assets greater than 10 million dollars received 84 million of the designated money. Those worth 1 million dollars  received less than half that. 

Among those also includes those in the more obscure category, like a sightseeing tour for saguaro cactuses in the Arizona desert.  “They green lit a ten thousand dollar grant so people can go on a tour  to see the saguaro cactus,  to listen to the cactus, to hear the cactus speak to them, and then share their findings on social media.” 

Andrzejewski said the purpose of the report is to elevate the debate for both sides by providing transparency. 

President trump’s 2018 budget proposed doing away with the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities. He’s received criticism for leaving “starving artists” out to dry. 

However, Congress’s version slightly increases art funding by roughly 5 million dollars. 

“What’s the purpose to compel working and middle class taxpayers to continue to fund the [Metropolitan Museum of Art]” asks Andrzejewski. “The Met has nearly 4 billion dollars in their bank accounts and financial assets.”