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Illinois · Nonprofit

CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM

CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $240,000 to it, the largest being IFF ($230,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$93k
Funders on record
2
Grants received
$240k
Net assets
$367k
1/2 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 80%
01What it does

What Chicago Blues Museum does

Mission

Form 990-EZ, Part III, Primary Exempt Purpose: To promote Preservation, Awareness and Appreciation of Historic Origins and Cultures of Chicago Black Music Genres, in particular Blues Music, as significant indigenous American Art Forms, in local Communities and to worldwide Audiences.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. Promote Preservation, Awareness and Appreciation of Historic Origins and Cultures of Chicago's Black Music Genres through Educational Traveling/Permanent Exhibits, regularly accompanied by Film Presentations and/or Live Performance Programs, based on Traditions of these Genres (Patrons served exceeds 10,000).

    $20,093 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $20,093.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($175k) Expenses 100 ($18k) Net assets 100 ($336k)2022 Revenue 6 ($11k) Expenses 149 ($27k) Net assets 96 ($322k)2023 Revenue 15 ($26k) Expenses 167 ($31k) Net assets 95 ($321k)2024 Revenue 53 ($93k) Expenses 304 ($56k) Net assets 109 ($367k)
2021202220232024
Revenue (53)Expenses (304)Net assets (109)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 2023 to 2024, from $380k to $426k (+12%).

$396k
$381k
$380k
$426k
2021202220232024
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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

97% of CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 18,808 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.

$157k
’21
−$16k
’22
−$5k
’23
$37k
’24
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

Funder
'21
'24*
total
Iffunclassified
$230k
funders
1
2

From the IRS filings of CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM’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

CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 96% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

100% 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 CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM.

96%
largest funder
100%
top three
~1
effective funders

“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 CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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

CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 14,550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin40% · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−19% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,550 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2024

Organizations like CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM

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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Public support

84%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM: 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 CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM?
CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $240,000 to it, the largest being IFF ($230,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM have?
IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $240,000 in grants to CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM?
IFF is the largest funder on record, with $230,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Chicago Blues Museum →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 2 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