Massachusetts · Nonprofit
CITY STRINGS UNITED INC
CITY STRINGS UNITED INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $625,094 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($212,886). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $525k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $625k
- Net assets
- $252k
What City Strings United Inc does
Mission
Mission: city strings united's mission (csu) is to promote youth development in historically excluded communities through access to high-quality, student-centered music education and ensemble performance.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To establish and provide for a stringed instrument learning program for the youth in the inner city who otherwise would not have access to such a program. During the year ended december 31, 2025, city strings united, inc accomplished the following:- enrollment increased by 33% - now have 100 students enrolled in the core music learing program- employed 6 apprentices who provide peer mentoring, community outreach, social media and program development support- expanded the program to include seniors on the move in partnership with the roxbury ymca- doubled the number of recruitment partners and deepenedour collaboration with existing program support partners resulting in 100 students served and a waitlist of dozens of students who will begin in the fall of 2026- current partners include celebrity series of boston, arts & business council of greater boston, epiphany school, roxbury ymca, boston centers for youth & families, twelfth baptist church, and seniors on the move
$303,028 spent100% of program spendingTo establish an interactive program that teaches students to play the violin, cello, or piano and read music and collaborate with other musicians
To establish an interactive program that teaches students to collaborate with other musicians in order to help them perform in a public setting
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $303,028.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $157k to $252k (+60%).
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.
99% of CITY STRINGS UNITED INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Bithyah Israel Copeland
President & CEO
Board chair
Ellen Hallett
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $10k → $154k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 CITY STRINGS UNITED INC’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
CITY STRINGS UNITED INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
42% 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 CITY STRINGS UNITED INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 72% · 2021 59% · 2022 41% · 2023 43% — 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
67% of CITY STRINGS UNITED INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 69% 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
84% of CITY STRINGS UNITED INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $224k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
CITY STRINGS UNITED INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding CITY STRINGS UNITED INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$22k
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 CITY STRINGS UNITED 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% 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 CITY STRINGS UNITED 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 CITY STRINGS UNITED INC?
- CITY STRINGS UNITED INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $625,094 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($212,886). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CITY STRINGS UNITED INC have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $625,094 in grants to CITY STRINGS UNITED INC, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CITY STRINGS UNITED INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $212,886 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CITY STRINGS UNITED INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 City Strings United →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 16 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