Illinois · Nonprofit
CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE
CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,738 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($18,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2026
- $134k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $71k
- Net assets
- $37k
What Crossing Borders Music Collective does
Mission
Crossing Borders Music is a multicultural organization of color that shares the stories and music of those whose voices are suppressed because of race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, other identity, or related trauma. We do this through free, accessible programs in community spaces in service and affirmation of our communities and collaborators. The mission of Crossing Borders Music is to use music to promote the dignity of people from all cultures.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ.
Program
In FY 26, Crossing Borders Music reached over 7,000 people in at least 60 concerts and in-school performances in the Chicago area and traveled to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York. Artistic leadership is now shared between the four core ensemble members. For our fourth year, new and returning students from Chicago's West Side took part in CBM's Young Composers Project, spending 10 weeks creating and getting to see their first works performed by professional ensemble. New works were commissioned this season in celebration of America's 250th, and we continue to share music by long-time collaborators in Cambodian, Haitian, Rohingya, Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities.
$28,730 spentof which $105,582 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $28,730.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2025 to 2026, from $61k to $37k (−40%).
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.
79% of CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
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
Marschnee Strong
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $10k → $8k.
2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE’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
CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
86% 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 CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 65% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 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
17% of CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 27% 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
CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE's revenue grew 16% between 2021 and 2026.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 630 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2026
Government funding CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$55k
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 CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE: 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 CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE?
- CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,738 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($18,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $70,738 in grants to CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $18,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CROSSING BORDERS MUSIC COLLECTIVE 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 Crossing Borders Music Collective →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2021–2026), and the filings of 11 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing