Grants for performing arts schools

Name: Top 25 grants made to performing arts schools
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

220 performing arts schools received at least $7.2 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 573 grants made from 453 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,800. Of these 453 foundations, 89% made just a single grant to music schools, and 2% made grants to four or more music schools. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$7,188,283

Total grant dollars given to performing arts schools

573

Number of grants made annually to performing arts schools

453

Number of grantmakers funding performing arts schools

$1,800

Median grant size to performing arts schools

Foundations that support performing arts schools

Out of all grants made to performing arts schools, 72% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 84% of the dollar-value of grants to music schools. Foundations funding music schools also made grants to music festivals and events, universities, animal shelters, arts education nonprofits, and theaters.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	327
Medium	65
Large	61

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	14
Private	396
Corporate	27
Other	16

Grants made

Grants made to music schools	Number of grantmakers
1	407
2-3	35
4-10	9
11+	2

Top 10 foundations supporting performing arts schools

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to music schools	Number of grants made to music schools	Median grant size
D'addario Foundation	NY	National	8.8%	20	$2,107
Community Foundation of North Central Wi	WI	Metro	0.3%	13	$500
Greater Worcester Community Foundation	MA	Metro	0.3%	10	$1,250
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	8	$310
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.0%	7	$1,000
Gannett Foundation	VA	National	0.1%	6	$100
Abbvie Foundation	IL	National	0.0%	6	$312
Community Foundation of North Texas (NTXCF)	TX	State	0.1%	5	$2,500
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.2%	4	$1,250
Cambridge Savings Charitable Foundation	MA	Metro	0.6%	4	$1,675

See all grantmaking to performing arts schools

Performing arts schools grantees

Performing arts schools with more than $5 million in total revenues received 88% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 31% of all music schools.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	571
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	2

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$5,000
$100k-$500k	$2,000
$500k-$1M	$1,000
$1M-$5M	$1,875
>$5M	$2,000

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
New York	106
California	72
Illinois	60
Massachusetts	55
Other	280

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	100
Chicago	61
Philadelphia	35
San Francisco	31
Other	269

Top 25 grants made to performing arts schools

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Colburn School	$3,056,000	General Support	Dunard Fund USA
California Jazz Conservatory (CJC)	$2,855,000	Endowment- California Jazz Conservatory	Marin Community Foundation
Make Music Nola	$5,000	Charitable - Adopt-An-Instrument Program in Nola	The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation
David Hochstein Memorial Music School	$5,000	Tuition Assistance Program	Robert G Boehmler Community Foundation
Merit School of Music	$5,000	General	Chang Family Foundation
Omaha Conservatory of Music (OCM)	$5,000	Charitable	Javitch Karen Sokolof Char FND-CSH
Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS)	$5,000	Scholarship	The Denver Foundation
Music Institute of Chicago (MIC)	$5,000	Public Charity	Robert W Galvin Foundation
Brevard Music Center Incorporated (BMC)	$5,000	General	The Gable Foundation
Curtis Institute of Music	$5,000	Student Education Program	Charlotte and William Hinson Charitable Foundation Trust
Settlement Music School	$5,000	General Operating Support	JP Morgan Chase Foundation
Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS)	$5,000	General Support	The Clinton Family Fund
Ali Akbar College of Music	$5,000	For General Operating Support	William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Bender JCC of Greater Washington	$5,000	General	Melvin & Estelle Gelman Foundation
Curtis Institute of Music	$5,000	General Operating	Lindback CR and MF Foundation TW Main
Curtis Institute of Music	$5,000	General Funds	Honickman Foundation
Armstrong Community Music School (ACMS)	$5,000	General Operating Support	The Community Foundation
Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB)	$5,000	Education	Edward Payson George Charitable Trust
Bender JCC of Greater Washington	$5,000	Patient Education	Parkinsons Disease Foundation Incorporated (PDF)
Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center	$5,000	General Support	David Geffen Foundation
Paul Schenley	$5,000	Organization's Exempt	Laurence W Levine Foundation 141008400
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM)	$5,000	General Support	The Nathan Cummings Foundation
The School of American Ballet (SAB)	$5,000	Trustee Grant - General Operating Support	The Howard Gilman Foundation
Suzuki School of Newton	$5,000	Program Support	Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM)	$5,000	General Operating	Credit Suisse Americas Foundation

See all grants to performing arts schools

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 "Performing arts schools" category for this page is determined by the "A6E: Performing Arts Schools" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.