The Field

What The Field does

The Field, legally The Performance Zone Inc., is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1986 that provides fiscal sponsorship, tax-deductible crowdfunding, and professional development services to individual artists and emerging arts organizations. Operating through a self-serve web platform at app.thefield.org, The Field enables artists across visual art, dance, music, film/video, writing, theatre, and performance art to receive tax-deductible contributions, launch crowdfunding campaigns, and access grant opportunities without forming their own nonprofit entity. The platform integrates with Stripe and PayPal for payment processing and supports multilingual access (English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Japanese, Arabic).

The Field's core products include Artist Profile & Analytics, a crowdsourced Knowledge Base, formal Fiscal Sponsorship arrangements, staff-supported 'Real People, Real Help' consultation services, an Artist Events/Community Calendar, Crowdfunding Campaigns (with a 7% platform fee for fiscally sponsored artists), and a Grants & Opportunities Portal. Revenue derives from three streams: Premium Membership subscription fees, 7% crowdfunding platform fees, and fiscal sponsorship processing fees of generally no more than 10% withheld from contributions. The go-to-market is a hybrid of product-led growth (free artist profiles that funnel to paid services), community-led engagement (Artist Council, annual Activate Equity conference, workshops), and event-driven outreach (webinars on grants, financial planning, contracts).

Since 1986, The Field reports that artists have raised over $66.6 million through the platform and shared 162,965 new works globally. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors alongside an Artist Council (BIPOC-majority body) launched in 2020. Leadership transitioned in 2022 when Executive Director Jennifer Wright Cook stepped down after 16 years, with Jamaine T. Smith serving as Interim Executive Director and Christopher Bloodworth currently leading the organization. The Field maintains a 1-10 person staff, operates from a single New York headquarters (228 Park Ave S), and discloses no external equity investors or funding rounds, consistent with its nonprofit structure.

Name

The Field

Legal name

The Performance Zone Inc. d.b.a. The Field

Website

https://thefield.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Field is a New York-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1986 that provides fiscal sponsorship, tax-deductible crowdfunding, and professional development services to individual artists and emerging arts organizations through a self-serve web platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Premium Membership Fees: Subscription-based membership with premium features. Standard accounts are free with no membership fees. Premium accounts require payment as described on the website.
2. Crowdfunding Platform Fees: The Field charges 7% platform fee on all crowdfunding campaigns for fiscally sponsored artists. No additional or changing payment processing fees beyond this rate.
3. Fiscal Sponsorship Processing Fees: A small processing fee (generally no more than 10%) is withheld from each contribution to cover fiscal sponsorship administrative costs. Most artists do not pay additional taxes on this income because they can deduct art-related expenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Field operates a web-based platform and service program that provides fiscal sponsorship, tax-deductible crowdfunding, customizable artist profiles, a curated knowledge base, and professional development resources for individual artists and emerging arts organizations. It enables artists to legally receive grants and donations under its 501(c)(3) status without forming their own nonprofit, supplemented by workshops, one-on-one consultations, and community events.

Product overview

The Field is a nonprofit arts organization platform that provides a suite of integrated tools and services designed to help artists of all disciplines manage their creative careers. The core platform consists of Artist Profile & Analytics for marketing and community engagement, a Knowledge Base with crowdsourced resources, Fiscal Sponsorship for tax-deductible fundraising, and Real People, Real Help staff support. The platform also includes a crowdfunding system with tax-deductible donation processing, an events/calendar system, and a grants portal. Artists can access free basic profiles or upgrade to premium paid memberships with enhanced features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Artist Profile & Analytics

Quantifiable outcome

• $66,676,928 raised by artists through The Field
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• GoFundMe: Mass-market personal fundraising platform frequently used by artists and arts groups as an alternative to dedicated fiscal-sponsorship crowdfunding.
• Kickstarter: Dominant rewards-based crowdfunding platform used by artists for project funding—competes with The Field's crowdfunding offering at greater scale but without the fiscal-sponsorship angle.
• Indiegogo: Crowdfunding platform with flexible funding that artists use for project-based campaigns, competing for the same creator-campaign demand.
• Patreon: Recurring-creator-monetization platform serving musicians, writers, and video creators—competes for the same artist-funder relationship that The Field serves through membership.

Direct peers

• Fractured Atlas: Largest US fiscal sponsor for artists and arts organizations, offering tax-deductible fundraising, insurance, and educational resources—directly competing with The Field's core fiscal-sponsorship service.
• MAP Fund: Foundation granting to performing-arts projects; overlaps with The Field's grants portal and serves many of the same performing-arts constituencies.
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts: Provides grants to artists in performance, visual, and emerging fields—overlapping with The Field's performing-arts and emerging-arts-company segment.
• United States Artists: National nonprofit granting direct fellowships and supporting artists across disciplines—shares The Field's mission of funding individual artist practice.
• New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA): NY-based nonprofit providing fiscal sponsorship, grants, and artist professional development in the same regional and functional market as The Field.

Emerging players

• Awesome Foundation: Distributed network of micro-grant chapters funding arts and community projects—adjacent model for small-dollar artist funding that intersects with The Field's grants ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TheFieldNYC
• Facebookfacebook.com/CounterpartArts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thefieldnyc
• Instagraminstagram.com/counterpartarts

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Field