Fine Arts Fund

What Fine Arts Fund does

ArtsWave is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts funding organization serving the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area and Northern Kentucky. Originally established in 1949 as the Fine Arts Fund and rebranded to ArtsWave in 2015 to reflect its broader community role, the organization operates as the primary centralized fundraising and grant-distribution mechanism for arts and culture in the Cincinnati region, supporting more than 150 arts organizations, individual artists, and projects annually. Programs include the Inspire Artist Grant, the Sachs Fund Prize, More Arts More Kids, ArtsWave Carts, and Boardway Bound (a leadership training program).

The organization's revenue model is built on an annual community fundraising campaign aggregating individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and affinity group contributions from a base of more than 25,000 individual donors. Donor benefits center on the ArtsWave Pass — a $100 annual tier providing 50% off deals at regional arts venues, restaurants, and shops — accessed exclusively through the ArtsWave App, a free mobile event calendar. Supporting ecosystem assets include Cincy A&E (regional entertainment calendar), The Weekly Arts Countdown newsletter, and signature events such as BLINK. The organization reports $1.6 billion in regional economic impact from 2019-2022 and claims $42.47 in regional economic return per dollar originally invested. No proprietary technology platform, AI/ML capabilities, or API integrations are disclosed in available source materials.

Name

Fine Arts Fund

Legal name

ArtsWave

Website

https://fineartsfund.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ArtsWave (formerly Fine Arts Fund) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts funding organization serving the Greater Cincinnati region and Northern Kentucky, annually supporting 150+ arts organizations and projects through donations from 25,000+ individual and corporate donors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts and Cultural Nonprofit Funding

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Art, Arts Councils & Grantmaking Programs (BPAGAHAH)

Keywords

• Arts fundraising
• Community arts funding
• Nonprofit grantmaking
• Donor benefits program
• Regional arts council

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Annual fundraising campaign soliciting contributions from individual donors in the Cincinnati region. Donors receive benefits through the ArtsWave Pass program based on giving levels.
2. Corporate Support: Business donations and sponsorships from companies supporting the arts in the Cincinnati region.
3. Affinity Group Giving: Specialized giving circles and affinity groups that pool contributions for targeted impact.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fine Arts Fund, operating as ArtsWave, is a nonprofit united arts fund that raises money from individual donors, corporations, and affinity groups through an annual community campaign and redistributes the funds as grants to over 150 arts organizations, artists, and projects in the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region. It also delivers the ArtsWave App, a free regional arts calendar, and the ArtsWave Pass, a $100 annual donor benefit providing 50% off deals at local arts venues, restaurants, and shops. Supporting community programs include More Arts, More Kids, BLINK, ArtsWave Carts, and the Boardway Bound Training Program.

Product overview

ArtsWave is a unified arts funding platform that operates as the primary mechanism for funding arts in the Cincinnati region. The core product portfolio centers on the ArtsWave App, a free mobile application serving as both an event discovery platform and exclusive access point for the ArtsWave Pass donor benefit. Supporting initiatives include More Arts, More Kids (student arts education), BLINK (large-scale public art events), ArtsWave Carts (mobile programming), and the Boardway Bound Training Program (arts leadership development). The organization also operates Cincy A&E as a regional entertainment calendar and provides The Weekly Arts Countdown newsletter. ArtsWave funds over 150 organizations, artists, and projects annually through its grant programs including the Inspire Artist Grant and Sachs Fund Prize.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ArtsWave Pass: A $100 donor benefit providing hundreds of 50% off deals and discounts to arts venues, restaurants, and shops in the Cincinnati region.
• More Arts, More Kids
• Cincy A&E
• The Weekly Arts Countdown
• Sachs Fund Prize
• Boardway Bound Training Program

Products and services

• ArtsWave App A free mobile application serving as a one-stop arts and entertainment calendar for the Cincinnati region, providing access to concerts, sports, performances, exhibitions, festivals, and family events, and serving as the exclusive platform for ArtsWave Pass donor benefits.
• ArtsWave Pass A $100 annual donor benefit program providing hundreds of 50% off deals and discounts at arts venues, restaurants, and shops in the Cincinnati region, available exclusively through the ArtsWave App.
• Annual Arts Fundraising Campaign Annual community fundraising campaign soliciting contributions from individual donors, corporate supporters, and affinity groups to fund arts organizations, artists, and projects in the Cincinnati region.
• More Arts, More Kids Program initiative that enables approximately 20,000 students annually to experience live arts programming through ArtsWave-funded organizations in the Cincinnati region.
• Cincy A&E Event Calendar The region's largest arts and entertainment calendar, available at cincyae.com, featuring local concerts, sports, performances, exhibitions, festivals, and family events in the Cincinnati area.
• Sachs Fund Prize An award program recognizing excellence and innovation in arts programming in the Cincinnati region.
• ArtsWave Carts Mobile arts programming initiative that brings arts experiences directly to communities throughout the Cincinnati region.
• Boardway Bound Training Program A training program designed to develop future arts leaders, board members, and governance professionals in the Cincinnati region's arts community.
• Inspire Artist Grant A grant program providing funding and community support to individual artists in the Cincinnati region.
• Arts Impact Toolkit A resource toolkit designed to help arts organizations measure and demonstrate the impact of their arts programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• $42.47 returned to regional economy for every dollar invested by ArtsWave
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council: Regional arts council and grantmaker serving the Pittsburgh area, providing grant funding, capacity-building, and advocacy for the local arts sector. Comparable structure to ArtsWave as the region's principal arts funding intermediary.
• United Arts of Central Florida: Regional united arts fund for the Orlando/Central Florida area that raises money through workplace campaigns and distributes grants to arts organizations. Directly mirrors ArtsWave's centralized community fundraising and regranting model.
• Houston Arts Alliance: Local nonprofit that funds and advocates for the arts in Houston through city-county funded grants and partnership programming. Comparable as a regional arts funding mechanism supporting many organizations in a single metropolitan area.
• Arts & Science Council of Charlotte Mecklenburg: Unified arts fund serving the Charlotte region through annual campaigns and grants to arts and science organizations. Closely comparable business model to ArtsWave, including individual/corporate fundraising, community campaign, and grant distribution to a portfolio of local organizations.

Broad incumbents

• Americans for the Arts: National nonprofit focused on advocacy, research, and capacity-building for the arts, serving local arts agencies and funders across the U.S. Comparable in mission area and audience, though operating at a broader scale rather than as a single-region regrantor.

Regional players

• Greater Cincinnati Foundation: Community foundation serving the Greater Cincinnati region that manages charitable assets and makes grants across causes including arts and culture. Comparable as a regional grantmaker in the same geography, though with a broader multi-cause focus rather than arts-only.
• United Way of Greater Cincinnati: Major regional fundraising organization in Greater Cincinnati operating workplace and individual giving campaigns for a portfolio of nonprofit partners. Comparable donor-acquisition model (annual campaign with employer engagement), though serving broader social services rather than arts specifically.

Others

• San Diego Foundation Arts & Culture Program: Regional community foundation that runs dedicated arts and culture grantmaking cycles among broader programs. Comparable as an institutional grantmaker to arts organizations, though embedded within a multi-cause foundation rather than a dedicated arts funder.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/artswave
• Facebookfacebook.com/ArtsWave.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fine-arts-fund
• Instagraminstagram.com/artswave

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Fine Arts Fund