Connecticut · Nonprofit
BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ
BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ (Connecticut) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $383,625 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($167,325). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $387k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $384k
- Net assets
- $158k
What BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ does
Mission
Backcountry jazz (bcjazz) presents concerts with celebrated jazz artists and rising stars and educates and inspires youth through music. Bcjazz provides high quality music programs for underserved youth that engage the creative spirit, encourage self expression and stimulate academic performance. Through the presentation of outstanding concerts, music education and a summer music camp, backcountry jazz celebrates, preserves and expands the rich tradition of america's art form, jazz.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Performance presentations, public school youth concerts, in-school concerts: backcountry jazz (bcjazz) creates and presents concerts for students and the public with some of the finest artists in jazz today. These concerts instill enthusiasm and build a wider audience for the uniquely american art form of jazz. This year, in-school concerts were presented to over 1,500 bridgeport public school students. Focused on the history, instrumentation, and the joy of listening to jazz music, in-school concerts are presented in a lecture demonstration style and are offered as an introduction to improvised music. Bcjazz presented the annual greenwich jazz festival, a free outdoor concert series. The season featured extraordinary jazz artists, from world-renowned to young rising stars. Nine concerts for a season long celebration of jazz and community with over 3,300 attendees.
$185,170 spent60% of program spendingBackcountry jazz summer music camp: bcjazz's summer music camp provides students, ages 10-20, with high quality music instruction and performance opportunities. Provided at no cost to participants, camp is open to students from bridgeport and surrounding area schools. Due to economic circumstances beyond their control, these students traditionally have limited exposure to music enrichment activities throughout the year. Instructed by our faculty of jazz masters, music professionals and university music professors, the program provides a unique jazz immersion experience. Instrumental (brass, woodwind, string, piano, percussion ) and vocal students receive instruction to develop key skills and enhance knowledge in the fundamentals of music, emphasizing listening skills, improvisation, and the art of performance. Highlights include workshops, masterclasses, small group ensembles, jam sessions, and individual instruction. Faculty are selected for their level of excellence and provide instruction, encouragement, and mentorship throughout camp. Working with these fine artists is an invaluable experience that is otherwise unavailable. Students build confidence and courage and develop…
$79,410 spent26% of program spendingAfter-school program, mentorship program, instrument program: provides public school students, who possess a desire to learn and a passion for music, sustained comprehensive jazz training. Instruction covers essential concepts and focuses on helping each student improve their instrumental skills. Students are provided with ensemble workshops and individual lessons, weekly, during the academic year. For advanced students, performance opportunities are offered through our advanced performing ensemble. Students are provided the opportunity to improve their skills in jazz, as well as interact with teachers, performing artists, and peers. The mentorship program enhances the training of our most motivated students with prominent working professionals to ensure continued creative input and musical growth. The programs are provided at no cost to participants due to their limited financial means. Students who demonstrate talent and commitment are awarded free instruments. Bcjazz aids with instrument supplies, maintenance costs, and more to ensure students have what they need to succeed.
$42,650 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $307,230.
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 2023 to 2024, from $168k to $139k (−18%).
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 3% · 2021 22% · 2022 8% · 2023 5% · 2024 4% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
103% of BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Jeanette Wallace
Exec director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $46k → $65k.
5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ’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
BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
76% 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 BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 100% · 2019 89% · 2020 69% · 2021 81% · 2022 28% · 2023 39% — 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
43% of BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
69% of BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ'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 $120k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from Connecticut funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $263k 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
BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ's revenue grew 65% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ: 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 BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ?
- BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ (Connecticut) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $383,625 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($167,325). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $383,625 in grants to BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $167,325 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 BACKCOUNTRY CONCERTS INC dba BACKCOUNTRY JAZZ →
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 13 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