Tennessee · Public charity
The Cma Foundation
Guided by the generosity of the country music community, THE CMA FOUNDATION focuses on improving and sustaining music education programs everywhere while supporting worthwhile causes important to the country music association.
- $2.2M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 34
- Itemized grants FY2025
- 27
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 22%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Itemized, FY2025
- $1.9M
- The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
- Median grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $200,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 9 to 67
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 17
- Total assets, FY2025
- $16M
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 22% of the organizations The Cma Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 8% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $105k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 33 | $1.9M | 27% |
| FY2024 | 27 | $1.3M | 22% |
| FY2023 | 9 | $784k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $656k | 8% |
| FY2021 | 20 | $1.6M | 35% |
| FY2020 | 67 | $4.3M | 34% |
| FY2019 | 60 | $3.7M | 40% |
| FY2018 | 61 | $3.0M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2018 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mr Holland's Opus Foundation | $1,916,830 | 5 | 29% |
| Nashville Public Education Foundation | $1,444,805 | 7 | 23% |
| Musicares Foundation Inc | $1,350,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education | $1,000,000 | 1 | 11% |
| State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education | $950,000 | 5 | 89% |
| Education Through Music Inc | $829,000 | 3 | 7% |
| Notes For Notes Inc | $752,000 | 6 | 15% |
| Music Health Alliance Inc | $730,000 | 7 | 13% |
| Save the Music Foundation | $635,000 | 7 | 5% |
| Music Will Inc | $450,000 | 7 | 2% |
Show all 131 grantees
Where it is load-bearing
The Cma Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 5 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 94 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: D'Addario Foundation Inc · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Gibson Gives Foundation Dba Gibson Gives · Acm Lifting Lives · Memorial Foundation Inc · Les Paul Foundation · Vanderbilt University · Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation · Hca Healthcare Foundation · Joe C Davis Foundation · The Lewis Prize Foundation Inc · Riser Foundation
How this is measured
About The Cma Foundation
- How much does The Cma Foundation give?
- The Cma Foundation reported 34 itemized grants totaling $1,917,000, out of $2,239,983 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 67 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Cma Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2018 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (52%), Education (23%), Health (12%).
- Who are The Cma Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2018 to FY2025: The Mr Holland's Opus Foundation ($1.9M), Nashville Public Education Foundation ($1.4M), Musicares Foundation Inc ($1.4M).
- Does The Cma Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 22% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Cma Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include D'Addario Foundation Inc, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc, Gibson Gives Foundation Dba Gibson Gives.
- Where is The Cma Foundation based?
- The Cma Foundation is based in TN.
Play a game based on Cma’s filings →