Tennessee · Nonprofit
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,072,039 to it, the largest being THE UNITED COMPANY FOUNDATION ($211,111). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.1M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Birthplace of Country Music Inc does
Mission
The birthplace of country music seeks to perpetuate, promote, and celebrate bristols rich musical heritage; to educate and engage audiences worldwide regarding the history, impact and legacy of the 1927 bristol sessions; and to create recognition, opportunities, and economic benefit for our local and regional communities. Heritage, impact and legacy of the 1927 bristol sessions; and to create recognition, opportunities, and economic benefit for our local and regional communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The birthplace of country music through its museum located in beautiful downtown bristol va, seeks to explore the history, impact, and legacy of the 1927 bristol sessions - one of the most influential commercial recording sessions in american music history - through educational, engaging, and fun experiences in our interactive museum. The 1927 sessions were recorded in bristol, and is recognized by congress and the senate as the birthplace of country music. Our museum celebrates, and educates this history.
$2,000,626 spent$489,336 earned by the program47% of program spendingThe bristol rhythm & roots reunion music festival is produced to promote and celebrate bristols music heritage, entertain and delight those attending, and bring recognition and economic benefit to bcm and to our local and regional communities.
$1,847,089 spent$1,908,059 earned by the program43% of program spendingRadio bristol exists to educate audiences worldwide regarding bristols rich musical heritage, to promote bristol and the museum, and the activities and elements of bcm of which we are a part; to provide a platform for regional and under-represented artists; and to entertain our listeners, live audiences, and visitors with quality original programming.
$453,638 spent$235,244 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,301,353.
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 2019 to 2020, from $11M to $16M (+38%).
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 37% · 2018 8% · 2019 5% · 2020 12% · 2021 25% · 2022 8% · 2023 9% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
15% of BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC 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. 6 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.
Board chair
Brent Treash
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income fell $238k → $203k.
6 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $295k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Wellmont Health System). These are real filings, and they are not money BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC raised.
From the IRS filings of BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 20 of 21 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
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
51% 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 BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 48% · 2019 46% · 2020 31% · 2021 43% · 2022 25% · 2023 37% — 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
45% of BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC 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
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $240k 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
BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC's revenue grew 44% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $570k on record.
- Department of the Interior$500k
- Department of Agriculture$39k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$32k
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 BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC 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 BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC?
- BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,072,039 to it, the largest being THE UNITED COMPANY FOUNDATION ($211,111). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,072,039 in grants to BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC?
- THE UNITED COMPANY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $211,111 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIRTHPLACE OF COUNTRY MUSIC INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Birthplace of Country Music →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 21 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