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Pennsylvania · Nonprofit

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $758,294 to it, the largest being PROGRAM TO AID CITIZEN ENTERPRISE INC ($173,127). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$102k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$758k
Net assets
$265k
5/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 83%
01What it does

What Balafon West African Dance Ensemble does

Mission

Our mission is creating enriching opportunities to experience the joyful spirit of traditional West African dance centering the cultural contributions of women.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. Education: Arts Education Classes and Residencies; Master Level training workshops for schools and universities, out of school and community organizations.

    $5,223 spent
    6% of program spending
  2. Performances: Performances and Demonstrations for Community, Corporate and Educational Partners and Presenters on Stages and in Community and Educational Spaces; Major Works and Productions

    $22,102 spent
    24% of program spending
  3. Cultural Events : Cultural Events and Experiences. Integrating and centering craft, cuisine, conversations and other cultural practices related to African arts. This happens as part of programming and may be periodic special events.

    $4,546 spent
    5% of program spending
  4. General Program

    $60,531 spentof which $5,000 as grants
    66% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $92,402.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($46k) Expenses 100 ($23k) Net assets 100 ($39k)2019 Revenue 84 ($39k) Expenses 190 ($44k) Net assets 87 ($34k)2020 Revenue 216 ($99k) Expenses 367 ($84k) Net assets 125 ($49k)2021 Revenue 343 ($158k) Expenses 389 ($89k) Net assets 299 ($118k)2022 Revenue 467 ($214k) Expenses 695 ($159k) Net assets 452 ($178k)2023 Revenue 877 ($403k) Expenses 1005 ($230k) Net assets 908 ($358k)2024 Revenue 223 ($102k) Expenses 836 ($192k) Net assets 673 ($265k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (223)Expenses (836)Net assets (673)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $195k to $376k (+93%).

$39k
$34k
$49k
$118k
$195k
$376k
$268k
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

74% of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$23k
’18
−$5k
’19
$15k
’20
$68k
’21
$55k
’22
$173k
’23
−$89k
’24
6.2
months of
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.

20222023
Listed44
Joined·+1
No longer listed·1
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $23k → $95k.

2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 Balafon West African Dance Ensemble’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

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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

68% 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 Balafon West African Dance Ensemble.

23%
largest funder
65%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 50% · 2021 47% · 2022 94% · 2023 53% — 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.

Where its funders are

100% of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.

PA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
’23
Pennsylvania out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $284k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Balafon West African Dance Ensemble has grown faster than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−87% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)14% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Balafon West African Dance Ensemble

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 Pennsylvania

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Balafon West African Dance Ensemble: 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.

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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 Balafon West African Dance Ensemble?
Balafon West African Dance Ensemble (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $758,294 to it, the largest being PROGRAM TO AID CITIZEN ENTERPRISE INC ($173,127). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Balafon West African Dance Ensemble have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $758,294 in grants to Balafon West African Dance Ensemble, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Balafon West African Dance Ensemble?
PROGRAM TO AID CITIZEN ENTERPRISE INC is the largest funder on record, with $173,127 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Balafon West African Dance Ensemble find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 7 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