California · Nonprofit
DEPARTMENT OF SOUND
DEPARTMENT OF SOUND (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $252,750 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($150,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $411k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $253k
- Net assets
- $71k
What Department of Sound does
Mission
Department of Sound empowers under-resourced Sacramento youth through music and podcast production, mentorship, and creating safe spaces for authentic self-expression, emotional growth, and community leadership.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
In 2025, Department of Sound, in conjunction with the City of Sacramento, held six interactive, in-person workshops for musicians and DJs. The purpose of these workshops was to help independent Sacramento music creators strengthen the business side of their craft - covering live music income, licensing, royalties, and the use of professional tools to scale their work. Programming was developed and reviewed by the CEO, who makes any changes he deems necessary based on participant feedback and program outcomes.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Through our Amplifying Voices program, Department of Sound partners with the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and Wilton Rancheria to produce documentary content, podcasts, and community events that center Indigenous voices, document tribal cultural knowledge, and elevate mental-wellness conversations within tribal communities.
$238,746 spent$200,000 earned by the program50% of program spendingThe Sound Business Summit, funded by the City of Sacramento American Rescue Plan Act Reinvestment Fund, delivered six cohort-based workshops to 150 Sacramento-based independent music creators. Programming combined business education (Center for Creative Entrepreneurship's 'Making Music with Music' curriculum), digital tool access (Venice Music memberships), and facilitated networking at Shattered Records studio.
$155,561 spent$149,920 earned by the program33% of program spendingDept of Sound continued its partnership with Sacramento Municipal Utility District through its Sustainable Communities program to produce The Power of Wind podcast workshop series, introducing youth to wind power technology, clean-energy careers, and audio storytelling while incorporating sound mind mental health practices.
$33,767 spent$40,000 earned by the program7% of program spendingOur Sound Mind Initiative workshops are delivered at partner schools and after-school community centers. In addition to immersive lessons in music and podcast production, participants practice breath-work, journaling, and other wellness techniques from our Sound Mind curriculum, produce original audio stories, and attend a capstone studio day at Shattered Records where our instructors, engineers, and guest mentors outline real-world career paths in audio and media.
$45,004 spent$1,000 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $473,078.
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 2021 to 2022, from $348k to $113k (−68%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 0% · 2021 9% · 2022 31% · 2023 15% · 2024 25% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
5% of DEPARTMENT OF SOUND’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
John Hamilton Hodgson III
Chief Executive Officer
Board chair
Hanif BL'EVE Brown
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $75k → $85k.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 DEPARTMENT OF SOUND’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
DEPARTMENT OF SOUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 96%; 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 DEPARTMENT OF SOUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 88% — 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.
Where its funders are
81% of DEPARTMENT OF SOUND's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $48k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $205k 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
DEPARTMENT OF SOUND has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,482 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like DEPARTMENT OF SOUND
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 DEPARTMENT OF SOUND: 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 DEPARTMENT OF SOUND?
- DEPARTMENT OF SOUND (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $252,750 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($150,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DEPARTMENT OF SOUND have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $252,750 in grants to DEPARTMENT OF SOUND, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DEPARTMENT OF SOUND?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST 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 DEPARTMENT OF SOUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Department of Sound →
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 4 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