California · Nonprofit
California Bluegrass Association
California Bluegrass Association (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $306,582 to it, the largest being THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($210,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $307k
- Net assets
- $190k
What California Bluegrass Association does
Mission
To promote & preserve Bluegrass, Gospel, Traditional and Old Time music in California.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Father's Day Bluegrass Festival - one of the largest curated Americana music events in the Western States, the CBA-produced Father's Day Festival has been presented for 50 years, bring top national touring bands and local California talent to a family-oriented four-day event in the Sierra foothills.
$581,644 spent$528,714 earned by the program52% of program spendingImpact Programs - CBA's youth program provides music lessons to Youth by professional touring musicians. It also facilitates support to youth musicians to attend important events, such as the IBMA World of Bluegrass for recognition and experience. Youth are encouraged to participate in our Kids on Bluegrass program and given opportunities to perform on the festival main stage. Our instrument library offers free instrument rental for the youth. CBA's BEAR fund provides interim emergency financial assistance to qualified artists and music professionals whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic illness or incident. The Bluegrass Bridge program brings music performance and instruments to incarcerated individuals in California State prisons.
$288,394 spentof which $101,090 as grants$177,690 earned by the program26% of program spendingMusic Camps - Two all-ages instructional music camps are offered: The Julian Family Fiddle Camp in San Diego County in May, and the Summer Music camp in Nevada County in June. Collectively over 40 hours of instruction are provided to each of our more than 300 students each year.
$152,643 spent$168,290 earned by the program14% of program spendingThe Bluegrass Breakdown Newsletter: An award-winning monthly newsletter available in print and digital to over 13,000 recipients that keeps the community informed of all CBA activities and programs, and provides useful educational and historic information about the impact of traditional music in California, and the people that made it possible.
$85,301 spent$4,142 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,107,982.
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 $709k to $406k (−43%).
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: 2021 77% · 2022 14% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
20% of California Bluegrass Association’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. 3 of the last 7 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
Pete Lude
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $11k → $209k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 California Bluegrass Association’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
California Bluegrass Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 98%; 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 California Bluegrass Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 97% · 2020 83% · 2021 100% · 2022 65% · 2023 96% — 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
20% of California Bluegrass Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
93% of California Bluegrass Association'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 $23k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $284k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
California Bluegrass Association has grown faster than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like California Bluegrass Association
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 California Bluegrass Association: 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 California Bluegrass Association?
- California Bluegrass Association (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $306,582 to it, the largest being THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($210,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does California Bluegrass Association have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $306,582 in grants to California Bluegrass Association, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Bluegrass Association?
- THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $210,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Bluegrass Association 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 California Bluegrass Association →
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 8 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