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Soundwaves Art Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Soundwaves Art Foundation

We are a philanthropic foundation that makes original pieces of art by capturing the digital heartbeat of some of the world's most iconic music.

$1.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$224k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

International$1.4MHealth$1.4MArts & Culture$330kPhilanthropy$140kHuman Services$92kFood & Nutrition$78kHousing & Shelter$27kYouth Development$19kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 20 grants below total $705,127, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,187,493 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $482,366 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $58k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $140k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $507k
$12,500
Median grant
12
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHILDREN IN CONFLICT$224,165
SWEET RELIEF MUSICANS FUND$201,950
KULTURECITY$80,955
BANDERAS BAY CHARITIES INC$22,000
THE BUSYHEAD PROJECT INC$18,000
UNICEF$17,250
SHARE OUR STRENGTH$17,250
THE SCARS FOUNDATION$16,500
GIBSON FOUNDATION$14,750
LIVING THE DREAM FOUNDATION$12,500
MAKE YOURSELF FOUNDATION$12,050
PROPSECTS OPPORTUNITY INC$10,000
VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$9,750
HOPE IN THE HILLS$9,250
SPECIAL OLYMPICS$8,700
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.6M) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%WOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION: $5k → 17%KULTURECITY: $81k → 16%HOPE IN THE HILLS: $23k → 11%PROPSECTS OPPORTUNITY INC: $10k → 9%JANIE'S FUND (YOUTH VILLAGES): $5k → 17%THE GIFT OF MUSIC FOUNDATION: $6k → 8%KULTURECITY: $39k → 16%KULTURECITY: $25k → 16%KULTURE CITY: $23k → 16%KULTURECITY: $21k → 16%CHILDREN IN CONFLICT: $506k → 17%CHILDREN IN CONFLICT: $395k → 17%CHILDREN IN CONFLICT: $224k → 17%CHILDREN IN CONFLICT: $110k → 17%CHILDREN IN CONFLICT: $96k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CT
CA
WV
AZ
TN
DC
AL
GA
TX

Grants abroad, by region: $437k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$414k · 95% · 4 grants

Stated purpose: SUPPORT

North America (Canada and Mexico)$24k · 5% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: SUPPORT

How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 14 repeat orgs$593k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
22

Total granted

$2.9M
$435k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+1%

Still filing today

93%
91%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $157k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’20’21’22’23’24
HealthPhilanthropyHuman ServicesArts & CultureCivil RightsInternationalOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CI
    CHILDREN IN CONFLICT INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +305%
  • K
    KultureCity
    5× · 2020–2024 · $189k · revenue +590%
  • NF
    Notes For Notes Inc
    4× · 2017–2022 · $96k · revenue +208%

Funded once

  • TN
    THE NATIONAL
    one grant, 2021 · $86k
  • TS
    THE SIMS FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $51k · revenue -33%
  • TN
    THE NUCI PHILLIPS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $40k · revenue +16%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
The Sergio Franchi Music Foundation
Arts & Culture
2
Nick Simons Foundation International
Philanthropy
3
New York Foundation for the Arts Inc

Established in 1971, the mission of the new york foundation for the arts (nyfa) is to empower artists in all disciplines, as well as cultural workers, to achieve success on their own terms by providing critical support, resources, and…

Arts & Culture
4
Artists and Musicians in Recovery
Education
5
Songs of Love Foundation

Its mission is to bring joy and comfort, laughter and healing to children and young adults who are chronically or terminally ill. it does so through personalized songs that honor the child. its motto is: the medicine of music.

Human Services
6
Hear Your Song Inc

Hear Your Song empowers children and teens living with serious illnesses and complex health needs to make their voices heard through collaborative songwriting. At the heart of our work is a "kid-driven," totally individualized process that…

Health
7
American Composers Forum

To advocate for and support living composers

Arts & Culture
8
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
9
The Goldman Sachs Foundation
Philanthropy
10
Fender Play Foundation
Arts & Culture
11
United States Artists Inc

To invest in america's finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society.

Arts & Culture
12
Internet Society Foundation

At the internet society foundation, we focus on funding initiatives that strengthen the internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people. our work advances the vision of the internet society (isoc): the internet…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Musicares Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Makeyourself Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

47 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 47 of the 51 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
23/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHILDREN IN CONFLICT INC: $1,331,059 · Human ServicesCHILDREN IN CONFLICT INCKultureCity: $189,463 · Human ServicesKultureCity+5 more: $48,887 · Human ServicesSWEET RELIEF MUSICIANS FUND: $737,484 · HealthSWEET RELIEF MUSICIANS FUNDTHE SIMS FOUNDATION INC: $50,650 · HealthTHE SIMS FOUNDATION INCTHE NUCI PHILLIPS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 · Health+5 more: $66,153 · Health+5 moreNORDOFF-ROBBINS MUSIC THERAPY FOUNDATION INC: $137,171 · OtherNORDOFF-ROBBINS…THE NATIONAL: $85,515 · OtherTHE NATIONALSHARE OUR STRENGTH FOUNDATION: $63,750 · OtherSHARE OUR STREN…SHARE OUR STRENGTH: $17,250 · OtherTEEN CANCER AMERICA INC: $39,298 · OtherTEEN CANCER AME…UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $37,250 · OtherUNITED STATES F…+11 more: $116,527 · Other+11 moreNORTHERN MANHATTAN ARTS ALLIANCE INC: $116,845 · Arts & CultureNotes For Notes Inc: $95,945 · Arts & CultureSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $26,107 · Arts & CultureMUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $13,936 · Arts & CultureNEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $11,855 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $6,750 · Arts & CultureLooking Out Foundation: $57,740 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $27,708 · PhilanthropyBANDERAS BAY CHARITIES INC: $22,000 · PhilanthropyTHE BUSYHEAD PROJECT INC: $18,000 · PhilanthropyTHE GIBSON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $17,100 · PhilanthropyTHE GIBSON FOUNDATION GIBSON: $14,750 · PhilanthropyMAKEYOURSELF FOUNDATION: $12,050 · PhilanthropyTHE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $9,750 · Philanthropy+2 more: $10,830 · PhilanthropyTREVOR PROJECT INC: $67,413 · Civil RightsTRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $27,045 · Civil RightsFARM AID INC: $60,845 · Food & Nutrition
Human Services$1,569,409Health$894,287Other$496,761Arts & Culture$271,438Philanthropy$189,928Civil Rights$94,458Food & Nutrition$60,845

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCHILDREN IN CONFLICT INC: $1,331,059 over 5y, 22% of budgetSWEET RELIEF MUSICIANS FUND: $737,484 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetKultureCity: $189,463 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetNORTHERN MANHATTAN ARTS ALLIANCE INC: $116,845 over 3y, 13% of budgetNotes For Notes Inc: $95,945 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $67,413 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFARM AID INC: $60,845 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetLooking Out Foundation: $57,740 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetTHE SIMS FOUNDATION INC: $50,650 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTHE NUCI PHILLIPS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetTEEN CANCER AMERICA INC: $39,298 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $37,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $27,708 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUE COLORS UNITED INC: $27,045 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $26,107 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetHOPE ON THE HILL INC: $23,400 over 1y, 16% of budgetBANDERAS BAY CHARITIES INC: $22,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetTHE ETHERIDGE FOUNDATION: $20,753 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetTHE BUSYHEAD PROJECT INC: $18,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $17,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GIBSON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $17,100 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetSOULSVILLE CHARTER SCHOOL: $15,905 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHCF SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION: $15,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $14,130 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $13,936 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLiving the Dream Foundation: $12,500 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE INC: $12,140 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMAKEYOURSELF FOUNDATION: $12,050 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetNEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $11,855 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFAMILY HOUSE INC: $11,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHIGH HOPES INC: $10,115 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPROSPECTS OPPORTUNITY AND ENRICHMENT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $9,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE IN THE HILLS INCORPORATED HEALING APPALACHIA: $9,250 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS INC: $8,700 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHANIA TWAIN FOUNDATION INC: $8,550 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetOXFAM-AMERICA INC: $8,087 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS INC: $6,900 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCREEN ACTORS GUILD-AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TELEVISION AND RADIO ARTISTS FOUND: $6,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GIFT OF MUSIC FOUNDATION INC: $5,557 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSFC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $5,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION INC: $5,380 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFUND FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK INC: $5,330 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL EATING DISORDERS ASSOCIATION: $5,150 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUTH VILLAGES INC: $4,550 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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.

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.

The Community Foundat…Pledgeling FoundationGibson Gives Foundati…Bethel Woods Center f…Ron and Lisa Brill Ch…PlusOnePlusOnePlusOneSimple Generosity Fou…California Community …Silicon Valley Commun…The Pfizer Foundation…The Ayco Charitable F…The Blackbaud Giving …
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee IncTN19.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Pledgeling Foundation · Gibson Gives Foundation Dba Gibson Gives · Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Inc · Ron and Lisa Brill Charitable Trust · PlusOnePlusOnePlusOne · Simple Generosity Foundation · California Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Soundwaves Art Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Soundwaves Art Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Farm Aid Inc: 100% of income from government
  • The Vermont Community Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Soundwaves Art Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Soundwaves Art 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.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 51 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Soundwaves Art’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home