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Minnesota · Nonprofit

CANTUS

CANTUS (Minnesota) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $968,353 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($150,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.5M
Funders on record
26
Grants received
$968k
Net assets
$819k
20/26 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 19%
01What it does

What Cantus does

Mission

Cantus gives voice to shared human experience by inspiring audiences through song and word, sparking new depths of understanding and empathy.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Concerts: Cantus continued its successful hybrid concert model, combining in-person and online performances. During the season, the ensemble presented five subscription concert programs, along with a special collaboration with the world-renowned swingles. Across the season, Cantus sold more than 10,000 tickets.the ensemble also premiered a new work by composer saunder choi, furthering its commitment to performing and commissioning contemporary music. One concert from each subscription week was livestreamed and made available for online viewing on a pay-what-you-can basis, underscoring Cantus' dedication to accessibility. Notably, over 15% of online ticket buyers chose to pay below the suggested price.as a result, listeners in all 47 states, 15 countries, and 196 minnesota cities experienced Cantus distinctive artistry.

    $494,959 spent$411,863 earned by the program
    50% of program spending
  2. Touring: during the 2024-2025 concert season, Cantus performed in 15 cities across the united states. Highlights included performances in new york city, dallas, and austin, a residency in san francisco in collaboration with the golden gate men's chorus and ragazzi boys chorus, and appearances at brigham young university in salt lake city and the shalin liu performance center in rockport, massachusetts. School district.

    $246,904 spent$167,253 earned by the program
    25% of program spending
  3. Recording: Cantus released alone together on the signum classics label and recorded the secret letter for future release. Throughout the year, the ensemble shared individual performances on youtube, showcasing both new works and its renowned stylistic range.additionally, Cantus partnered with american public media to produce a new radio special, giving thanks, which was broadcast by radio stations nationwide.

    $133,740 spent$17,662 earned by the program
    14% of program spending
  4. Education: central to Cantus' mission is educating the next generation of choral singers and enriching the musical experience of singers of all ages, through workshops, masterclasses, and side-by-side rehearsals and performances. In the 2024-25 season, Cantus lived out this aspect of its mission by conducting workshops connected to touring programs, for high school and college students in the communities hosting tour performances. Locally, Cantus partnered with southwest high school in minneapolis for a year-long high school residency program, culminating in a public concert in march, 2025. The ensemble also served as clinicians and leaders of a day-long choral music festival in march, 2025, for high school tenors and basses; more than 110 singers from 17 different schools participated in the festival, which was sponsored by the minnesota chapter of the american choral directors association. Both of these educational initiatives are now woven into the ensemble's annual calendar, as are the workshops and masterclasses on tour.

    $113,165 spent$17,847 earned by the program
    11% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $988,768.

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 ($1.1M) Expenses 100 ($1.2M) Net assets 100 ($5k)2018 Revenue 112 ($1.3M) Expenses 101 ($1.2M) Net assets 2192 ($104k)2019 Revenue 111 ($1.3M) Expenses 103 ($1.2M) Net assets 3687 ($175k)2020 Revenue 81 ($924k) Expenses 77 ($896k) Net assets 4278 ($203k)2021 Revenue 90 ($1.0M) Expenses 66 ($763k) Net assets 9767 ($465k)2022 Revenue 141 ($1.6M) Expenses 106 ($1.2M) Net assets 17869 ($850k)2023 Revenue 116 ($1.3M) Expenses 111 ($1.3M) Net assets 18677 ($888k)2024 Revenue 111 ($1.3M) Expenses 115 ($1.3M) Net assets 17195 ($818k)2025 Revenue 129 ($1.5M) Expenses 127 ($1.5M) Net assets 17219 ($819k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (129)Expenses (127)Net assets (17219)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 2019 to 2020, from $270k to $585k (+117%).

$189k
$277k
$270k
$585k
$823k
$1.0M
$1.2M
$1.1M
$929k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 6% · 2018 12% · 2019 12% · 2020 10% · 2021 40% · 2022 27% · 2023 20% · 2024 11% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

56% of CANTUS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (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. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$18k
’17
$100k
’18
$71k
’19
$28k
’20
$261k
’21
$385k
’22
$38k
’23
−$70k
’24
$1k
’25
6.9
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.

Chief executive

Michelle Quiala

Executive director

Board chair

Brian Newhouse

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed211917181717141716
Joined·+2+0+6+3+3+3+7+3
No longer listed·42543644
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $31k → $123k.

6 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 CANTUS’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

CANTUS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% 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

31% 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 CANTUS.

15%
largest funder
43%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 27% · 2019 28% · 2020 18% · 2021 47% · 2022 22% · 2023 16% — 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

48% of CANTUS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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

83% of CANTUS's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.

MN
MI
NY
IA
CA
MO
MD
DE
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $257k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CANTUS is better cushioned than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin0% · below the median
Months of reserve6.9mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding CANTUS receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $290k on record.

Federal$290k
grants $290kcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$290k

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 CANTUS

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 Minnesota

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

67% of spending goes to programs.

Program 67%Management 23%Fundraising 10%

Governance

11
board members
82%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CANTUS: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 CANTUS?
CANTUS (Minnesota) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $968,353 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($150,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CANTUS have?
IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $968,353 in grants to CANTUS, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CANTUS?
The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CANTUS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Cantus →

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 26 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