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California · Nonprofit

BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC

BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,444,790 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($270,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.9M
Funders on record
31
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
$738k
19/31 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 20%
01What it does

What BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC does

Mission

BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC nonprofit mission is to provide superior quality and affordable popular music education to aspiring musicians of all ages and skill levels within a supportive and encouraging community.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. MUSIC PROGRAM: PRIVATE LESSONS, GROUP ADULT, LITTLE BEARS, AFTER SCHOOL Adult Programs - Most of the Corporation's group course students are adults with day jobs, people who want to have music be part of their lives but who are not planning to become professional musicians. 286 Adults particpated in 11-week group classes in 2023. Private Music Lessons in 2023 were offered to 444 adults and 187 youth taking guitar, piano, ukuklel, bass, drums and DJ-ing lessons.

    $751,594 spent$734,421 earned by the program
    62% of program spending
  2. WORKSHOP PROGRAMS: BAND WORKSHOPS, ALL STAR BANDS, SUMMER CAMPS Summer camps in 2023 had 38 youths enrolled in week-long music day camps during the summer. Kids can be enrolled in Blue Bears week-long music day camps which run Monday through Friday and include a special performance on Friday ending. The camp curriculum was designed by renowned educator and artist Bonnie Hayes. Adult band workshops had 33 young musicians rehearsed and performed in 7 bands. In 2023, 488 todlers and their parents were servced in parks and schools.

    $197,733 spent$187,422 earned by the program
    16% of program spending
  3. OTHER PROGRAMS: Blue Bear music enrichment pgorams served over 400 youths in 2023 in the San Francisco area.

    $257,391 spent$172,241 earned by the program
    21% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,206,718.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.8M) Expenses 100 ($1.7M) Net assets 100 ($613k)2018 Revenue 98 ($1.8M) Expenses 108 ($1.8M) Net assets 93 ($570k)2019 Revenue 93 ($1.7M) Expenses 99 ($1.7M) Net assets 93 ($570k)2020 Revenue 86 ($1.6M) Expenses 88 ($1.5M) Net assets 105 ($645k)2021 Revenue 82 ($1.5M) Expenses 73 ($1.2M) Net assets 148 ($909k)2022 Revenue 79 ($1.4M) Expenses 88 ($1.5M) Net assets 143 ($875k)2023 Revenue 81 ($1.5M) Expenses 107 ($1.8M) Net assets 126 ($773k)2024 Revenue 107 ($1.9M) Expenses 126 ($2.1M) Net assets 120 ($738k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (107)Expenses (126)Net assets (120)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 2017 to 2018, from $786k to $1.2M (+59%).

$786k
$1.2M
$1.6M
$1.2M
$1.2M
$1.2M
$961k
$947k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 0% · 2021 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

21% of BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$127k
’17
−$44k
’18
$639
’19
$74k
’20
$265k
’21
−$48k
’22
−$339k
’23
−$178k
’24
3.3
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1216131516161618
Joined·+5+0+2+1+0+0+5
No longer listed·1300003
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 13 funders, grant income rose $90k → $120k.

9 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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

BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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

66% 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 BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC.

19%
largest funder
46%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 31% · 2019 73% · 2020 26% · 2021 66% · 2022 39% · 2023 18% — 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

44% of BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

68% of BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC's grant income comes from California funders.

NY
CA
UT
DE
TN
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $674k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.

Operating margin−9% · below the median
Months of reserve3.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC

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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

77% of spending goes to programs.

Program 77%Management 16%Fundraising 7%

Governance

16
board members
94%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

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 BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC: 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 BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC?
BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,444,790 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($270,000). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC have?
IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $1,444,790 in grants to BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC?
VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $270,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of MUSIC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 BLUE BEAR SCHOOL of 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 31 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