Minnesota · Nonprofit
AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM
AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,919,552 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,617,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $851k
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $8.8M
What American Composers Forum does
Mission
To advocate for and support living composers
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Recomposing america is a multi-year initiative that considers the role of music in the narrative of our nation's founding and future. This large-scale project highlights artistic perspectives unique to the united states through direct commissions, institutional collaborations, and public dialogue. Timed with the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence, recomposing america aims to refresh and reimagine the "who," "what, and "why" of the united states and the stories therein. Music has always told the story of the united states. From anthems that forged unity and protest songs that challenged power, to the intimate soundtracks of our daily lives, music composition is a vessel to chart the stories, ideas, and origins of people and communities. Recomposing america is a platform that expands on this legacy by centering the role of music in our past and future stories an evolving score shaped by many people and cultures across the u.s. Recomposing america is our vision for a bold first draft of the musical composition of tomorrow. This season, the initiative includes commissions for orchestra, chamber and jazz ensembles, and a hip-hop ep, showcasing the diversity of ways that we at American Composers Forum define "composition."
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Artist services:the organization supports and advocates for music creators at multiple points in their creative lives. Through commissions, funding, resources, and advancement, the organization cultivates a composer-centered ecosystem for living music. Grants provide seed money for the development of new work, unrestricted money for mid-career artists, and commission support.
$987,551 spentof which $167,857 as grants$100,862 earned by the program100% of program spendingMediathe organization is the home of innova recordings, a music label that represents a diverse mix of work by living artists. Distributed through naxos usa, the catalog numbers over 800 titles and is frequently featured on leading digital platforms such as itunes, apple music and spotify. Acf is also home to multimedia hub I care if you listen, which presents a blend of music criticism, artist profiles, essays, and playlists, and attracts 18,000 monthly page views.
Artist equityguided by the published "commitment to racial equity," acf has been pursuing five-year goals to achieve greater racial equity across the organization. Within the racial equity framework, additional inequities are addressed, including but not limited to: gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and abilities. Partnerships and programs that bring greater awareness to these inequities - and meaningful opportunities to engage with diverse living artists - contribute to advancing the work in the field.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $987,551.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $11M to $9.0M (−17%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 8% · 2018 5% · 2019 9% · 2020 5% · 2021 25% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% · 2024 15% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
60% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Vanessa Rose
Executive director
Board chair
Lee Bynum
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $61k → $735k.
10 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
29% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 50% · 2019 71% · 2020 46% · 2021 37% · 2022 34% · 2023 28% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
56% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
73% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 18 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $330k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$330k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
53%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM?
- AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM (Minnesota) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,919,552 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,617,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $4,919,552 in grants to AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,617,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 36 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing