Colorado · Nonprofit
ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC
ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC (Colorado) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $806,496 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($583,564). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $806k
- Net assets
- $-77131
What Ascend Performing Arts Inc does
Mission
The mission of Ascend Performing Arts is to further the education and growth of young people through participation in performing arts programs of the highest caliber, which promote teamwork and discipline, develop leadership skills, and enhance self-esteem.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Student educational initiatives including our drum and bugle corps and WGI rehearsals/performances and our Friendship Cup educational performance programs improve performance skills, competency/musicianship, and promotes teamwork, discipline, and leadership skills while enhancing self-esteem.
$2,270,060 spent$2,956,497 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,270,060.
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 $630k to $1.4M (+130%).
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 23% · 2022 24% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
23% of ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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
Mark Arnold
CEO
Board chair
Ken Adams
Chair, Board of Directors
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $97k → $78k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 62% · 2019 92% · 2020 96% · 2021 80% · 2022 60% · 2023 72% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
92% of ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $63k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $743k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC's revenue grew 59% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC: 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 ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC?
- ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC (Colorado) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $806,496 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($583,564). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $806,496 in grants to ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC?
- COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $583,564 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ASCEND PERFORMING ARTS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Ascend Performing Arts →
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 14 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