Grants for music festivals and events

1,802 music festival and event organizations received at least $10.1 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 2,279 grants made from 1,525 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $2,000. Of these 1,525 foundations, 81% made just a single grant to music orgs, and 3% made grants to four or more music orgs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.
$10,053,838
Total grant dollars given to music festivals and events
2,279
Number of grants made annually to music festivals and events
1,525
Number of grantmakers funding music festivals and events
$2,000
Median grant size to music festivals and events

Foundations that support music festival and event organizations

Out of all grants made to music festivals and events, 75% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 54% of the dollar-value of grants to music orgs. Foundations funding music orgs also made grants to symphony orchestras, performing arts organizations, art museums, performing arts centers, and theaters.

Foundation size

Foundation size Number of grantmakers
Small
 
1,157
Medium
 
213
Large
 
153
Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type Number of grantmakers
Community
 
43
Private
 
1,319
Corporate
 
69
Other
 
94

Grants made

Grants made to music orgs Number of grantmakers
1
 
1,239
2-3
 
230
4-10
 
45
11+
 
11

Top 10 foundations supporting music festival and event organizations

Grantmaker State Geographic focus Percent of grant dollars to music orgs Number of grants made to music orgs Median grant size
D'addario Foundation NY National 26.4% 56 $2,214
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines IA State 0.1% 41 $1,250
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) TN Metro 0.1% 33 $1,500
Shell Oil Company Foundation TX National 0.2% 26 $500
Abbvie Foundation IL National 0.0% 21 $130
The Rhode Island Foundation RI Metro 0.1% 20 $2,568
Greater Worcester Community Foundation MA Metro 0.8% 18 $2,085
Chubb Charitable Foundation PA National 0.3% 16 $500
Seattle Foundation WA State 0.0% 15 $2,500
Sempra Energy Foundation CA State 0.4% 14 $200

Music festival and event organizations grantees

Music festivals and events with more than $5 million in total revenues received 55% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 6% of all music orgs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant Number of grants
<$10k
 
2,278
$10k-$25k
 
0
$25k-$100k
 
0
$100k+
 
1

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue Median grant size
<$100k
 
$2,000
$100k-$500k
 
$1,939
$500k-$1M
 
$2,000
$1M-$5M
 
$2,000
>$5M
 
$1,615

Grantee states

State of grantee Number of grants
New York
 
374
California
 
240
Massachusetts
 
126
Illinois
 
120
Other
 
1,419

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee Number of grants
New York City
 
337
Chicago
 
112
Boston
 
71
Los Angeles
 
63
Other
 
1,473

Top 25 grants made to music festivals and events

Grantee Grant size Purpose Grantmaker
Carnegie Hall / The Carnegie Hall Corporation $5,000,000 Performing Arts The Kovner Foundation
The Defiant Requiem Foundation $5,000 General Operating Support Shimon Ben Joseph Foundation
Sierra Music Society $5,000 General Support Oddfellows Retirement Manor
Oyster Bay Music Festival $5,000 General The Joel Foundation
Early Music Foundation $5,000 Charitable Reed Foundation
Sounds and Notes Foundation $5,000 Cultural Heritage Ij J Roman Family Foundation
317 Main St $5,000 Performing Arts Schools Edward H Daveis Benevolent Fund
Musicambia $5,000 Sec 501(c)(3)organization Crosby Family Foundation
Bahama Village Music Program $5,000 Music Program Larry Dion Foundation Suzanne D Banks Trustee
Highbridge Voices Corporation $5,000 General Support Donation Seven Oaks Foundation
The Jazz Bakery Performance Space $5,000 Charitablecharitable Owen Cheatham Foundation
Interschool Orchestras of New York $5,000 General Support Levitt Foundation / Stephen J Mathes Esq
Chamber Music Society of Detroit $5,000 Cleveland Quartet Award Chamber Music America
Symphony of the Americas $5,000 General Operating Judith Linnell Foundation
Handel and Haydn Society (H+H) $5,000 Unrestricted Operating Support Case Western Reserve University
Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (CCJO) $5,000 General Louise Taft Semple Foundation
Colorado Music Festival and Center for Musical Art $5,000 General Operating Support The Denver Foundation
Bennie L Williams Spiritual Voices $5,000 For General Operating Support The Denver Foundation
Maha Music Festival $5,000 Donation Used To Further the Mission of the Organization Midwest Housing Equity Group (MHEG)
Miami Childrens Chorus $5,000 Program Support The Miami Foundation
Jazz at Lincoln Center $5,000 Charitable Sidney Kohl Family Foundation
Santa Barbara Strings $5,000 Grant Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation
Rose Ensemble the $5,000 Provide Money for Operating Expenses Filia Foundation
Connoisseur Concerts Association $5,000 General Support Johnston-Hanson Foundation
Pampas Tribute To Woody Guthrie $5,000 Operations Gray-Pampa Foundation
Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Music festivals and events" category for this page is determined by the "A68: Music" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.