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The Cma Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· 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 FY2025still arriving
34
Grants FY2025still arriving
17
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$9.0MEducation$4.0MHealth$2.1MYouth Development$977kFood & Nutrition$525kPublic Safety & Disaster$300kHuman Services$99kHousing & Shelter$90kOther$0
02FY2025 · 34 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 34 grants below total $1,917,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,239,983 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $322,983 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 · FY2025

  • $10k–50k15 grants · $290k
  • $50k–250k19 grants · $1.6M
$50,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE$200,000
STATE EDUCATION AGENCY DIRECTORS OF ARTS EDUCATION$100,000
MUSICARES FOUNDATION$100,000
MUSIC WILL$100,000
YOUTH ON RECORD$100,000
TOURING CAREER WORKSHOP$100,000
BACKLINE CARE INC$100,000
VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION$100,000
PORTER'S CALL$100,000
THE ROOTS OF MUSIC$100,000
NOTES FOR NOTES$100,000
MUSIC AND THE BRAIN$75,000
METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS$52,000
THE PEOPLE'S MUSIC SCHOOL$50,000
MEMPHIS MUSIC INITIATIVE$50,000
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 (FY18–21, $145k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 62% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SOLOMON FAMILY SOLUTIONS: $15k → 13%CAMP SOUTHERN GROUND: $10k → 6%CAMP SOUTHERN GROUND: $10k → 6%PORTER'S CALL: $25k → 4%CAMP SOUTHERN GROUND: $10k → 6%THE STORE: $75k → 14%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

ME
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
DC
LA
MS
GA
TX
FL
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.
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.
$14M · 56 repeat orgs$3.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

56 repeat relationships: 24 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

56
66

Total granted

$14M
$2.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+23%

Still filing today

80%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $327k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • NF
    Notes For Notes Inc
    6× · 2018–2025 · $752k · revenue +104%
  • MH
    MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $730k · revenue +224%
  • ST
    SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION
    7× · 2018–2025 · $635k · revenue +94%

Funded once

  • TS
    TENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1.0M · revenue +86%
  • Feeding America
    one grant, 2021 · $400k · revenue +23%
  • TS
    THE STORE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $75k · revenue +177%
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
Girls Write Nashville

Girls write nashville empowers expression through songwriting, production, mentorship and creative community for teen artists. we are an artist and educator-led 501(c)(3) creative youth development program in nashville, tn allied with…

Arts & Culture
2
Music to the Ears Foundation

We use music education as a tool to help students discover their capacity for creativity, technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

Arts & Culture
3
Play On Philly

Play on philly provides underserved children in philadelphia, a transformative music education experience that develops and inspires the behaviors and personal skills needed for a successful life.

Arts & Culture
4
Intonation Music Workshop

Intonation kids explore their limitless potential by learning to play instruments and forming their own rock bands. Our year-round classes make music accessible to children in low-income neighborhoods by providing them with instruments,…

Arts & Culture
5
Merit School of Music

Merit School of Music is dedicated to helping young people transform their lives by removing barriers to high-quality music education, with the majority of students benefitting from need-based financial aid, scholarship support, or…

Arts & Culture
6
Music Institute of Chicago

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.

Arts & Culture
7
North Carolina Symphony Society Inc

To be north carolina's state orchestra, an orchestra achieving the highest level of artistic quality and performance standards, and embracing its dual legacies of statewide service and music education.

Arts & Culture
8
The Foundation for Music Education

Support advancement of music education through scholarships and other worthwile projects. Supports band, choir, orchestra, and elementary music educator training programs across the US. Seeks funding to support education students and…

Education
9
Texas Music Teachers Educational Foundation Inc

See schedule otexas music teachers educational foundation, inc. (the foundation) is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the promotion of high quality individual and group instruction in the field of music. the foundation was…

Arts & Culture
10
Commusication

Commusication (cmc) provides free high-quality and accessible after school music programs for youth in grades k-12. programs support the development of leadership and socio-emotional skills along with musical development. cmc provides…

Arts & Culture
11
Colorado Music Bridge

Colorado nbsp;music nbsp;bridge nbsp;provides nbsp;access nbsp;to nbsp;inclusive nbsp;modern nbsp;music nbsp;education nbsp;programs nbsp;curricular nbsp;resources nbsp;and nbsp;professional nbsp;development

Arts & Culture
12
Musical Arts Society of New Orleans

Masno's vision is to be a primary source in establishing new orleans as a vital and vibrant center for the musical arts recognized regionally, nationally, and internationally. masno's mission is 1) to create opportunities to hear,…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Young Americans Inc; the most unlike its peers is Backline Care Inc. 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

109 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. 109 of the 133 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
36
Early backer (in before they grew)
101/109
Grantees still filing
76/109
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $1,350,000 · Arts & CultureMUSICARES FOUNDATION INCEDUCATION THROUGH MUSIC INC: $829,000 · Arts & CultureEDUCATION THROUGH MUSIC INCNotes For Notes Inc: $752,000 · Arts & CultureNotes For Notes IncMUSIC WILL INC: $450,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC WILL INCYOUTH ON RECORD: $387,000 · Arts & CultureYOUTH ON RECORDCOUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC: $325,000 · Arts & CultureTENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (TPAC) MANAGEMENT CORPORATION: $325,000 · Arts & CultureWO SMITH NASHVILLE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL: $275,000 · Arts & CultureRoots of Music Inc: $240,000 · Arts & Culture+40 more: $1,718,302 · Arts & Culture+40 moreTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $1,916,830 · EducationTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATIONNASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $1,444,805 · EducationNASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATIONTENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATION: $1,000,000 · EducationTENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMI…STATE EDUCATION AGENCY DIRECTORS OF ARTS EDUCATION: $950,000 · EducationSTATE EDUCATION AGENCY DIRECTORS OF ARTS…TENNESSEE ARTS ACADEMY FOUNDATION: $215,000 · Education+15 more: $742,500 · Education+15 moreSAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION: $635,000 · OtherSAVE THE MUSIC F…FOLLOW YOUR HEART ARTS PROGRAM INC: $154,145 · OtherFOLLOW YOUR HEAR…PORTER'S CALL: $110,000 · OtherMusic Resource Center - Cincinnati: $90,000 · OtherRosies House A Music Academy for Children Inc: $90,000 · Other+48 more: $1,383,471 · Other+48 moreMUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE INC: $730,000 · HealthBACKLINE CARE INC: $100,000 · Health+2 more: $20,000 · HealthFeeding America: $400,000 · Food & NutritionMUSICALLY FED: $50,000 · Food & NutritionGIVE A NOTE FOUNDATION INC: $219,000 · PhilanthropyTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $100,000 · PhilanthropyPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC: $20,000 · PhilanthropyJEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $19,988 · PhilanthropyBUILDING FOR THE ARTS NY INC: $295,000 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$6,651,302Education$6,269,135Other$2,462,616Health$850,000Food & Nutrition$450,000Philanthropy$358,988Community Improvement$295,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $1,916,830 over 5y, 29% of budgetNASHVILLE PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $1,444,805 over 7y, 23% of budgetMUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $1,350,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetTENNESSEE STATE COLLABORATIVE ON REFORMING EDUCATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetSTATE EDUCATION AGENCY DIRECTORS OF ARTS EDUCATION: $950,000 over 5y, 89% of budgetEDUCATION THROUGH MUSIC INC: $829,000 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetNotes For Notes Inc: $752,000 over 6y, 15% of budgetMUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE INC: $730,000 over 7y, 13% of budgetSAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION: $635,000 over 7y, 4.6% of budgetMUSIC WILL INC: $450,000 over 7y, 1.9% of budgetFeeding America: $400,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTH ON RECORD: $387,000 over 5y, 9.7% of budgetCOUNTRY MUSIC FOUNDATION INC: $325,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetTENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (TPAC) MANAGEMENT CORPORATION: $325,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetBUILDING FOR THE ARTS NY INC: $295,000 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetWO SMITH NASHVILLE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL: $275,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetRoots of Music Inc: $240,000 over 4y, 7.9% of budgetGIVE A NOTE FOUNDATION INC: $219,000 over 3y, 83% of budgetTENNESSEE ARTS ACADEMY FOUNDATION: $215,000 over 8y, 14% of budgetJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $200,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTENNESSEE MUSIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: $189,000 over 7y, 17% of budgetThe People's Music School: $187,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetPHOENIX CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC: $170,069 over 5y, 14% of budgetFOLLOW YOUR HEART ARTS PROGRAM INC: $154,145 over 7y, 38% of budgetHarmony Project: $150,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetARTISTYEAR: $144,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetQUEST CENTER FOR ART & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $125,000 over 5y, 16% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMusic For All Inc: $90,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetRosies House A Music Academy for Children Inc: $90,000 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetMusic Resource Center - Cincinnati: $90,000 over 3y, 9.5% of budgetNEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL AND FOUNDATION INC: $85,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION for MUSIC EDUCATION: $82,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetSPHINX ORGANIZATION INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INC: $75,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTHE STORE INC: $75,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetGIRLS ROCK SB: $70,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetTHE YOUNG AMERICANS INC: $65,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetzSharp: $65,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetGUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM: $60,000 over 3y, 7.8% of budgetTHE TOURING PROFESSIONALS ALLIANCE INC: $59,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetETM-LA INC: $58,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetMUTTNATION FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetMUSICALLY FED: $50,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetArtsPlus: $44,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetMusic for Everyone: $40,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetIndiana Music Education Association Foundation: $40,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetJOY OF MUSIC YOUTH MUSIC SCHOOL CORPORATION: $40,000 over 2y, 4.1% 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.

D'Addario Foundation …The Community Foundat…Gibson Gives Foundati…Acm Lifting LivesMemorial Foundation I…Les Paul FoundationVanderbilt UniversityRyman Hospitality Pro…Hca Healthcare Founda…Joe C Davis FoundationThe Lewis Prize Found…Riser Foundation
D'Addario Foundation IncNY51× affinity24 shared granteesties to 7 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 The Cma Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Cma Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Neighborhood Music School Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Intempo Organization Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
30report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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.

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 133 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Cma’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