The Broad

The Broad is an operating foundation under IRS subsection 03 — it funds and operates its own programs rather than awarding competitive grants to outside organizations. Grant seekers who approach The Broad expecting a traditional grantmaking relationship will be disappointed. The strategic opportunity instead lies in partnership, co-production, and institutional collaboration.

The Broad's core identity is built on three pillars: free public access to postwar and contemporary art, an internationally active art lending program through the separate Broad Art Foundation, and civic engagement with the diverse communities of Los Angeles. Founded by Eli and Edythe Broad and opened in 2015 on Grand Avenue opposite Walt Disney Concert Hall, the museum holds 2,000+ works and draws over 900,000 visitors annually. Since Eli Broad's death in April 2021, Founding Director Joanne Heyler has steered institutional continuity, supported by a board that includes Goldman Sachs veteran Suzanne Nora Johnson, Chairman Robert H. Tuttle, and Edythe Broad herself as director.

The most realistic entry point for outside organizations is through the Broad Art Foundation's lending program, which has executed more than 9,000 artwork loans to museums worldwide since 1984. Museums, university galleries, and cultural centers can request loans of works from the Broad collection for temporary exhibitions — no fee is charged in most cases, but organizations must demonstrate adequate conservation, security, and climate controls.

For nonprofits and community-based arts organizations, the right frame is programmatic partnership rather than grant seeking. The Broad's Diversity Apprenticeship Program, its community reforestation project with North East Trees and the Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation, and its free school visit and family programming all suggest appetite for collaborators who can deepen community reach. The $100 million expansion under construction (groundbreaking April 2025, completion 2028) is creating new flexible performance and event spaces — this is the highest-opportunity window to propose multi-year educational or community engagement partnerships.

Because The Broad is an operating foundation, its financial figures reflect the cost of running the museum, not grants distributed to outside grantees. The IRS 990 'total giving' line captures program expenses for exhibitions, education, public programs, and collection care — not outbound grants. Understanding this distinction is essential before any outreach.

Key financial benchmarks from IRS filings: - FY2023: Total assets $544.7M | Program expenses (giving line) $33.4M | Revenue $28.9M | Officer compensation $775K - FY2022: Total assets $553.1M | Program expenses $25.5M | Revenue $27.5M - FY2021: Total assets $551.2M | Program expenses $19.3M | Revenue $2.3M (COVID impact) - FY2020: Total assets $573.6M | Program expenses $22.0M | Revenue $36.3M - FY2019: Total assets $561.6M | Program expenses $26.2M | Revenue $31.2M - FY2015: Total assets $421.9M | Program expenses $17.3M | Revenue $20.4M

The museum's assets have remained in the $538–$574M range since 2019 — a sign of institutional stability, not financial stress. Revenue volatility (low in FY2021 at $2.3M vs. $36.3M in FY2020) reflects pandemic-era disruption. The FY2020 revenue spike ($35.2M in contributions) likely reflects a major gift from the Broad family or foundation. Program expenses rebounded from the COVID trough of $19.3M to $33.4M in FY2023.

Founding Director Joanne Heyler's compensation reached $480,000 in the most recent filing, up from $400,000–$450,000 in earlier years, reflecting tenure and institutional scale. The museum's LEED Gold-certified 120,000 sq ft facility carries substantial operating costs — building, conservation, security, and staffing — explaining the programmatic spending levels.

For the $100M expansion, no public breakdown of funding sources has been released. Given the Broad family's track record ($140M original building plus $1B total arts philanthropy commitment), private family giving is the likely primary source, supplemented by municipal support evidenced by Mayor Bass and Supervisor Solis's presence at the groundbreaking.

The Broad sits within a cohort of major arts-focused operating foundations whose assets range from $313M to $786M. The Broad Art Foundation (a separate legal entity) actually outpaces The Broad itself by $248M in assets, illustrating how the Broad philanthropic enterprise is structured across multiple entities.

The key contrast is with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Poetry Foundation, both of which operate genuine external grant programs alongside their institutional activities. The Rauschenberg Foundation awards grants to artists and organizations; the Poetry Foundation funds poets and literary projects. Organizations looking for external grant dollars in the arts should pivot to those peers. The Broad and Kimbell Art Foundation are both primarily operating institutions where the funding goes inward to programs, not outward to grantees.

The Broad's most significant development of the past 18 months is its $100 million expansion, designed by the original building architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The groundbreaking ceremony on April 9, 2025 was a civic event attended by Mayor Karen Bass and Supervisor Hilda Solis, underscoring The Broad's positioning as a cornerstone of downtown Los Angeles's cultural infrastructure. The addition — 55,000 square feet, 70% more gallery space across three new floors with outdoor rooftop courtyards — is timed to open before the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, when the museum anticipates record international visitation.

A distinctive design feature of the expansion is a visible vault viewing experience: visitors will be able to observe rolling painting racks from the collection, dissolving the traditional back-of-house/front-of-house boundary.

On the programming side, Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind (May 23–October 11, 2026) marks Ono's first solo museum show in Southern California, co-organized with Tate Modern London — a high-profile signal of The Broad's ability to attract international institutional co-productions. Robert Therrien's large-scale installation ran through April 5, 2026.

Founding Director Joanne Heyler has remained at the helm continuously since the museum opened in 2015, with compensation reaching $480,000 in the most recent filing. The post-Eli Broad (d. April 2021) governance structure appears stable, with Robert H. Tuttle serving as Board Chairman and Edythe L. Broad continuing as director.

Understand the operating foundation structure first. The Broad does not accept unsolicited grant applications. Any organization that submits a proposal requesting cash funding will receive no response or a form decline. This is not a reflection of quality — it is structural. Recalibrate the goal from 'grant' to 'partnership.'

Artwork loan requests are the primary formal pathway. The Broad Art Foundation (EIN separate from The Broad) has loaned artworks to museums more than 9,000 times globally. To request a loan, your organization must: (1) hold 501(c)(3) status; (2) demonstrate professional conservation, climate control, and security standards; (3) present a curatorial rationale connecting the requested work(s) to your exhibition concept. Approach the Curatorial and Collections team — not Development or Communications.

Align with access, equity, and civic identity. The Broad's stated mission centers on making contemporary art accessible to 'the widest possible audience.' Proposals that serve communities with limited museum access — Title I school partnerships, programs for incarcerated individuals, bilingual family programming — align with the museum's values and are more likely to generate interest from education staff.

The 2025–2028 expansion window is a strategic opportunity. The museum is building new flexible programming and performance spaces. Organizations with strong track records in live performance, participatory art, or community-based engagement should reach out now to explore co-programming the new spaces before they are fully committed.

Contact specifics. General inquiries: info@thebroad.org / 213-232-6250. Legal and governance matters go through Secretary/Legal Counsel Deborah Kanter. The Diversity Apprenticeship Program has a dedicated application portal at thebroad.org/dap/application — workforce development organizations should monitor this program.

Board relationships matter. Board members Sherry Lansing (former Paramount Pictures chair), Suzanne Nora Johnson (former Goldman Sachs vice chair), and Robert H. Tuttle (former U.S. Ambassador to UK) bring elite civic networks. LA-based organizations with board-level relationships in entertainment, finance, or civic government may find warm introductions more effective than cold outreach.