· Private foundation
Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $4k
- $10k–50k9 grants · $267k
- $50k–250k15 grants · $1.7M
- $250k+1 grant · $250k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| STARLING PROJECT FOUNDATION | $250,000 |
| THE SHEPHARD SCHOOL OF MUSIC - RICE UNIVERSITY | $200,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER | $166,000 |
| THE COLBURN SCHOOL | $160,750 |
| UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN | $151,625 |
| ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL SCHOOL | $150,000 |
| NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY | $141,000 |
| CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC | $105,000 |
| COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC | $100,000 |
| SALT LAKE MUSIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION DBA GIFTED MUSIC SCHOOL | $100,000 |
| BOWDIN COLLEGE | $90,000 |
| SOUNDING POINT FOUNDATION | $85,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN | $75,000 |
| NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY | $65,000 |
| MEADOWMOUNT SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $64,400 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–22, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 5%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
30 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $89k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TCTHE COLBURN SCHOOL7× · 2018–2024 · $878k · revenue +40%
- NENEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC7× · 2018–2024 · $694k · revenue +41%
- CICURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC7× · 2018–2024 · $590k · revenue +58%
Funded once
- TFTHE FESTIVAL INSTITUTE AT ROUND TOPone grant, 2022 · $50k
FRACTURED ATLAS INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $12k · revenue +63%- SISTRING INSIDERSone grant, 2022 · $4k · revenue -77%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…
At MusicMi we set a mission for ourselves to provide aspiring young musicians from across the country with an opportunity to study with world-class artists and to provide our students with a music education of the highest artistic…
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
To seek and nurture exceptional young string musicians, foster and further their performance and professional skills development, and provide them with performance opportunities and monetary support.
The omaha conservatory of music is a non-profit school that builds a diverse musical community to enrich lives through education and performance.
Menlo school's mission is to empower students to explore and expand their interests, reach their fullest potential, develop the skills necessary for success in college, and become ethical, responsible, and engaged members of ever wider…
The Conference is devoted to the development of amateur and professional musicians as chamber players. The Conference is also committed to the development of new music by commissions and performances of new works by composers in residence.…
The mission of the Bowdoin International Music Festival is to provide gifted young musicians from around the world with an opportunity to study with world-class artists, and to provide audiences with classical music performed to the…
The Charleston Academy of Music is committed to providing access to exceptional music education, performance and community outreach to all, regardless of age, skill, gender, ethnicity or income.
How this is measured
23 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 23 of the 36 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds THE COLBURN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST ↗
- Who funds Starling Project Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds University of Michigan ↗
- Who funds CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds Bowdoin College ↗
- Who funds MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC ↗
- Who funds KNEISEL HALL ↗
- Who funds SAN FRANCISCO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds COLEMAN VIOLIN STUDIO ↗
- Who funds OTTAWA SUZUKI STRINGS INC ↗
- Who funds SOUNDING POINT FOUNDATION CORP ↗
- Who funds ENCORE CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
- Who funds Madeline Island Chamber Music co Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP ↗
- Who funds CENTER STAGE STRINGS ↗
- Who funds The Florida State University Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds FRACTURED ATLAS INC ↗
- Who funds HILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds STRING INSIDERS ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- New England Conservatory of Music: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
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