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New York · Nonprofit

Creative Ability Development Inc

Creative Ability Development Inc (New York) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $192,257 to it, the largest being DAISY MARQUIS JONES FOUNDATION ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$342k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$192k
Net assets
$560k
2/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 16%
01What it does

What Creative Ability Development Inc does

Mission

See Schedule OThe Kanack School of Musical Artistry is the not-for-profit epicenter of Creative Ability Development (CAD) within our community and internationally. We provide an enriching, nurturing, and inclusive environment where all can grow to reach their fullest potential: artistically, creatively, socially, and intellectually. CAD defined: a pedagogical system which uses disciplined musical improvisation to develop the creative part of the brain, to heighten each student's innate musicality, and to enhance creative ability across multiple intellectual pursuits.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. The Kanack School of Musical Artistry has had a rich history in the Rochester community for over 20 years. We provide students of all ages a warm, disciplined, and non-competitive environment in which to develop their musical artistry. We offer private lessons in violin, viola, cello, piano, voice, flute, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo. Because the school was founded on a combination of the philosophy of Creative Ability Development and the Suzuki Method, we strongly believe group classes are crucial to the growth of musical artistry. Any day of the week students have access to many classes. (Continued on Schedule O)CAD improvisation classes, Suzuki repertoire classes, orchestra, fiddle, bluegrass bands, music theory and composition, chorus, opera and musical theater scenes, and piano duets are all available to our students. These classes not only help to develop their musical talent, but also to develop social skills that will aid them in life. We offer our group classes at no additional charge to private lesson tuition so that every student has the same access to these important opportunities.The Kanack School of Musical Artistry also offers a wide range of summer…

    $343,074 spentof which $27,365 as grants$338,548 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $343,074.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($494k) Expenses 100 ($417k) Net assets 100 ($332k)2019 Revenue 91 ($450k) Expenses 92 ($382k) Net assets 120 ($400k)2020 Revenue 72 ($358k) Expenses 88 ($368k) Net assets 111 ($370k)2021 Revenue 145 ($716k) Expenses 98 ($410k) Net assets 203 ($676k)2022 Revenue 95 ($469k) Expenses 100 ($418k) Net assets 219 ($727k)2023 Revenue 85 ($421k) Expenses 118 ($491k) Net assets 198 ($656k)2024 Revenue 69 ($342k) Expenses 105 ($438k) Net assets 169 ($560k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (69)Expenses (105)Net assets (169)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 2020 to 2021, from $748k to $1.0M (+39%).

$761k
$795k
$748k
$1.0M
$1.1M
$1.0M
$918k
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 7% · 2022 4% · 2023 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

1% of Creative Ability Development Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$77k
’18
$68k
’19
−$10k
’20
$306k
’21
$51k
’22
−$70k
’23
−$96k
’24
5.9
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.

Board chair

George Thurston

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2018201920202021202220232024
Listed26222321241210
Joined·+1+3+6+8+1+1
No longer listed·5285133
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $250 → $43.

5 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 Creative Ability Development 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

Creative Ability Development Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

29% 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 Creative Ability Development Inc.

52%
largest funder
78%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 100% · 2022 33% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.

“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

11% of Creative Ability Development Inc's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 20% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y

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

82% of Creative Ability Development Inc's grant income comes from New York funders.

NY
NJ
DE

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

’18
’20
’21
’22
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Creative Ability Development Inc is better cushioned than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−28% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.9mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−6% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Creative Ability Development 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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 21%Fundraising 0%

Governance

10
board members
90%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

95%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Creative Ability Development 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.

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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 Creative Ability Development Inc?
Creative Ability Development Inc (New York) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $192,257 to it, the largest being DAISY MARQUIS JONES FOUNDATION ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Creative Ability Development Inc have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $192,257 in grants to Creative Ability Development Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Creative Ability Development Inc?
DAISY MARQUIS JONES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Creative Ability Development Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Creative Ability Development →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 10 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