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The Elma Music Foundation (Us) at a glance

· Private foundation

The Elma Music Foundation (Us)

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$223k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$9.0MYouth Development$7.6MPhilanthropy$4.3MEducation$1.0MHealth$900kHuman Services$690k
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k21 grants · $1.9M
$50,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC$223,212
ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC$200,000
THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC$200,000
MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC$176,552
JAZZ FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC$100,000
BIG THOUGHT$100,000
THE DOOR - A CENTER OF ALTERNATIVES$100,000
A PLACE CALLED HOME$91,666
MAMA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INC$75,000
RYSE INC$75,000
BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC$50,000
SOULSVILLE FOUNDATION INC$50,000
YOUTH ON RECORD$50,000
THE MUSIC EDUCATION GROUP INC$50,000
MOVING IN THE SPIRIT INC$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 (FY19–25, $1.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%MOVING IN THE SPIRIT INC: $50k → 14%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $283k → 23%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $200k → 23%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $200k → 23%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $200k → 23%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC: $75k → 23%THE NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $220k → 17%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC: $75k → 23%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $220k → 17%ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC: $75k → 23%HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE: $250k → 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

MI
NY
MA
CA
UT
CO
MD
TN
LA
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 16% of The Elma Music Foundation (Us)’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 46% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 41%.

The Elma Music Foundation (Us)lessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20M · 34 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against -30% for those funded once.

34 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
3

Total granted

$20M
$850k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
-30%

Still filing today

85%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $175k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyHealthOther
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

  • MS
    MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC
    6× · 2019–2025 · $2.2M · revenue +31%
  • JF
    Jazz Foundation of America Inc
    7× · 2019–2025 · $1.5M · revenue +356%
  • EM
    ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • MF
    MUSICARES FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue -11%
  • HC
    HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC
    one grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue -31%
  • UA
    Urban Arts Partnership
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue -30%
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
Young Musicians Unite Inc

Young musicians unite believes that every student in miami-dade county deserves access to music education regardless of their socio-economic background. we collaborate with schools to provide free music education which has been proven to…

Arts & Culture
2
Move(Nyc) Foundation Inc

Move|nyc| is a civic arts and social justice organization committed to cultivating a more diverse and inclusive society through transforming the field of professional dance. more than an arts organization, move|nyc| is a movement for…

Public Benefit
3
David's Harp Foundation

To inspire, educate, and empower "opportunity youth", to achieve academic success through music education, sound engineering, and multimedia production.

Youth Development
4
Miami Music Project Inc

Miami music project uses music as an instrument for social transformation, empowering children to acquire values and achieve their full potential, positively affecting their society through the study and performance of music. our vision is…

Arts & Culture
5
Bloomingdale School of Music

To provide access to high-quality music education for anyone who seeks it, regardless of economic status, ability level, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation.

Arts & Culture
6
Black Music Entrepreneurship Incubator

Musical Education and Training

—
7
The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Inc

To offer accessible, high-quality performing arts education that sparks personal growth and builds inclusive communities. its vision is to transform performing arts education in an inclusive community accessible to all.

—
8
New World Symphony Inc

Prepares gifted graduates of prestigious music programs for successful careers in orchestras and ensembles.

Education
9
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
10
Lyrica Baroque

The mission of lyrica baroque is to support a diverse community of students, teachers, artists, institutions and audiences of all ages through education, collaboration and performance. lyrica baroque seeks to promote the extraordinary…

Arts & Culture
11
San Francisco Jazz Organization

The san francisco jazz organization (the organization) is a recognized international leader in jazz creation, presentation, and education. the organization explores the full spectrum of jazz, from the music's origins in the african…

Arts & Culture
12
Education Through Music Inc

Education through music (etm) was formed to promote the use of music in the core curricula of under-resourced schools as a means of positively impacting student motivation, achievement, and self-confidence by providing year-long, in-school…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mind Builders Creative Arts Inc; the most unlike its peers is Youth Empowerment Project Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

40 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. 40 of the 43 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/40
Grantees still filing
26/40
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $2,176,580 · Arts & CultureMANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSICMEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INC: $917,070 · Arts & CultureMEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INCBIG THOUGHT: $600,000 · Arts & CultureBIG THOUGHTSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $575,000 · Arts & CultureSOULSVILLE FOUNDATIONMIND BUILDERS CREATIVE ARTS INC: $550,000 · Arts & CultureMIND BUILDERS CREATIVE ARTS INCMUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $500,000 · Arts & CultureMUSICARES FOUNDATION INCRECESS ACTIVITIES INC: $475,000 · Arts & CultureRECESS ACTIVITIES INCMAMA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INC: $455,000 · Arts & CultureMAMA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INCYOUTH ON RECORD: $400,000 · Arts & CultureEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $375,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $300,000 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $275,000 · Arts & CultureTHE DOOR - A CENTER OF ALTERNATIVES INC: $900,000 · OtherTHE DOOR - A CENTER OF …SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION: $675,000 · OtherSAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATI…A PLACE CALLED HOME: $650,000 · OtherA PLACE CALLED HOMEAFTER-SCHOOL ALL-STARS: $550,000 · OtherAFTER-SCHOOL ALL-STARSVH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION - NEW ORLEANS: $525,000 · OtherVH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUN…MUSIC EDUCATION COALITION INC GRAMMY MUSIC EDUCATION COALITION: $475,000 · OtherMUSIC EDUCATION COALITI…YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT INC: $391,667 · OtherYOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJE…LIVING CLASSROOMS FOUNDATION INC: $375,000 · OtherLIVING CLASSROOMS FOUND…VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION - NEWARK: $225,000 · Other+1 more: $100,000 · OtherTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $1,600,000 · PhilanthropyTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION…Jazz Foundation of America Inc: $1,500,000 · PhilanthropyJazz Foundation of A…BROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $986,632 · PhilanthropyBROOKLYN COMMUNITY F…United Way of Greater Houston: $250,000 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Greate…SPY HOP PRODUCTIONS: $725,000 · Youth DevelopmentSPY HOP PRODU…RYSE INC: $725,000 · Youth DevelopmentRYSE INCRenaissance Youth Center: $675,000 · Youth DevelopmentRenaissance Y…Neutral Zone: $375,000 · Youth DevelopmentNeutral ZoneGUITARS OVER GUNS ORGANIZATION INC: $300,000 · Youth DevelopmentGUITARS OVER …ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $1,108,000 · Human ServicesNEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $440,000 · Human ServicesHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $250,000 · Human Services+1 more: $50,000 · Human ServicesBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $976,991 · EducationLIVING CLASSROOMS FOUNDATION: $300,000 · EducationTHE MOTIVATIONAL EDGE INC: $150,000 · EducationRoad Recovery Foundation Inc: $400,000 · HealthYOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: $233,333 · Crime & Legal
Arts & Culture$7,598,650Other$4,866,667Philanthropy$4,336,632Youth Development$2,800,000Human Services$1,848,000Education$1,426,991Health$400,000Crime & Legal$233,333

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $2,176,580 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $1,600,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetJazz Foundation of America Inc: $1,500,000 over 7y, 16% of budgetELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC: $1,108,000 over 7y, 14% of budgetBROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $986,632 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetBERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC INC: $976,991 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMEMPHIS EQUITY THROUGH ARTS INC: $917,070 over 7y, 13% of budgetTHE DOOR - A CENTER OF ALTERNATIVES INC: $900,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetSPY HOP PRODUCTIONS: $725,000 over 6y, 6.6% of budgetRYSE INC: $725,000 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetSAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION: $675,000 over 4y, 3.7% of budgetRenaissance Youth Center: $675,000 over 5y, 9.5% of budgetA PLACE CALLED HOME: $650,000 over 6y, 1.8% of budgetBIG THOUGHT: $600,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetSOULSVILLE FOUNDATION: $575,000 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetMIND BUILDERS CREATIVE ARTS INC: $550,000 over 7y, 3.4% of budgetAFTER-SCHOOL ALL-STARS: $550,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetMUSICARES FOUNDATION INC: $500,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetRECESS ACTIVITIES INC: $475,000 over 6y, 15% of budgetMAMA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INC: $455,000 over 5y, 23% of budgetNEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $440,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetYOUTH ON RECORD: $400,000 over 5y, 7.0% of budgetRoad Recovery Foundation Inc: $400,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $375,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetNeutral Zone: $375,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $300,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLIVING CLASSROOMS FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetGUITARS OVER GUNS ORGANIZATION INC: $300,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Houston: $250,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $250,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetYOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: $233,333 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetSTEM FROM DANCE INC: $150,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetTHE MOTIVATIONAL EDGE INC: $150,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetUrban Arts Partnership: $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMOVING IN THE SPIRIT INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetATLANTA MUSIC PROJECT INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Lewis Prize Found…Universal Music All T…National Basketball A…The Hearst FoundationPinkerton FoundationD'Addario Foundation …Altman FoundationNational Philanthropi…The Kresge FoundationJpmorgan Chase Founda…Charities Aid Foundat…The Ford Foundation
The Lewis Prize Foundation IncNY28.3× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Lewis Prize Foundation Inc · Universal Music All Together Now Foundation Inc · National Basketball Association Foundation · The Hearst Foundation · Pinkerton Foundation · D'Addario Foundation Inc · Altman Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Kresge Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Ford 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 Elma Music Foundation (Us) funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Elma Music Foundation (Us). Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Living Classrooms Foundation: 7% of income from government
  • Berklee College of Music Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Guitars Over Guns Organization Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
19report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Elma Music Foundation (Us)?

Find your warmest path to The Elma Music Foundation (Us) 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 43 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-PF 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 Elma Music Foundation (Us)’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