New York · Nonprofit
ASCAP FOUNDATION
ASCAP FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,961,831 to it, the largest being LOUIS ARMSTRONG EDUCATIONAL FOUNDAT ($560,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.3M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Ascap Foundation does
Mission
The ASCAP Foundation is dedicated to nurturing the music talent of tomorrow, preserving the legacy of the past and sustaining the creative incentive for today's music creators through a variety of educational, professional and humanitarian programs and activities that serve the entire music community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
SCHOLARSHIPS, AWARDS AND COMPOSER PROGRAM: The ASCAP Foundation scholarship programs seek to ensure that opportunities for the study of music and instruments, songwriting, music composition, the business of music and related areas are available to students at all levels by providing Scholarships to 38 recipients ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. The ASCAP Foundation provides awards to emerging composers and songwriters consisting of cash awards to 90 recipients of composer and / or lyricist programs. These awards range from $125 - $10,000.
$448,172 spentof which $298,075 as grants45% of program spendingMUSIC EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY OURTREACH: The ASCAP Foundation is dedicated to nurturing the music talent of tomorrow by developing and supporting educational programs that provide effective learning opportunities consistent with our mission to students of all ages. The ASCAP Foundation has provided funding to support 17 Music Education and / or Development programs throughout the year with the goal of enhancing and promoting music education and providing the community with access to music and its history. These 17 programs include 10 that received $5,000 or more in funding and 7 programs that received less $5,000.
$253,520 spentof which $107,747 as grants25% of program spendingTALENT DEVELOPMENT: The ASCAP Foundation Talent Development programs provide aid and encouragement to music creators nationally who are in various stages of their careers including: Workshops (12); Commissioning programs (3); and sponsorship of talent development programs, (9). By providing professional opportunities to emerging composers, lyricists and songwriters, The ASCAP Foundation supports their careers and promotes their works.
$211,384 spentof which $84,327 as grants21% of program spendingOther program services include 4 humanitarian programs that includes music therapy programs for veterans with PTSD; Aphasia patients; students on the autism spectrum and other program support expenses.
$82,116 spentof which $18,500 as grants8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $995,192.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2024 to 2025, from $14M to $18M (+21%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of ASCAP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 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
Nicole George-Middleton
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $163k → $208k.
13 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 ASCAP FOUNDATION’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
ASCAP FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
34% 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 ASCAP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 40% · 2019 39% · 2020 42% · 2021 32% · 2022 42% · 2023 36% — broadly stable.
“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
40% of ASCAP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
51% of ASCAP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $635k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
ASCAP FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ASCAP FOUNDATION
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Ascap · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ASCAP FOUNDATION: 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 ASCAP FOUNDATION?
- ASCAP FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,961,831 to it, the largest being LOUIS ARMSTRONG EDUCATIONAL FOUNDAT ($560,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ASCAP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $1,961,831 in grants to ASCAP FOUNDATION, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ASCAP FOUNDATION?
- LOUIS ARMSTRONG EDUCATIONAL FOUNDAT is the largest funder on record, with $560,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ASCAP FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 2020–2025), 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing