Colorado · Nonprofit
EL SISTEMA COLORADO
EL SISTEMA COLORADO (Colorado) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $750,875 to it, the largest being Wend II Inc ($237,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $847k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $751k
- Net assets
- $797k
What El Sistema Colorado does
Mission
El Sistema Colorado is a tuition-free, excellence-driven, and opportunity-focused youth orchestra program that develops musical and personal agency, transcends socioeconomics, and strengthens community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The mission of El Sistema Colorado lies at the intersection of music and social justice. Esc exists to break down the barriers to music by creating access for youth to an immersive, culturally responsive education. Programming is completely free and prioritizes low-income families and students from historically marginalized communities from pre-k to grade 12 (ages 3-18). Our curtis park music center is a bastion of socioeconomic and cultural access to music education in one of the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in the country: instruments, ensemble classes, private lessons, and impactful musical experiences are provided to our students at absolutely no cost in a space where they are valued and empowered to be themselves. Students receive 2-7 hours of music instruction per week and we currently serve over 270 students.
$556,174 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $556,174.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2023 to 2024, from $551k to $753k (+37%).
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: 2023 20% · 2024 26% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of EL SISTEMA COLORADO’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 3 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
Ingrid Larragoity
Executive director
Board chair
Bridget Mcneil
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $1k → $353k.
2 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 EL SISTEMA COLORADO’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
EL SISTEMA COLORADO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
38% 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 EL SISTEMA COLORADO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 87% · 2022 100% · 2023 39% — 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
50% of EL SISTEMA COLORADO's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 44% 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
EL SISTEMA COLORADO draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $199k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
EL SISTEMA COLORADO runs a healthier operating margin than half 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
Organizations like EL SISTEMA COLORADO
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 EL SISTEMA COLORADO: 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 EL SISTEMA COLORADO?
- EL SISTEMA COLORADO (Colorado) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $750,875 to it, the largest being Wend II Inc ($237,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EL SISTEMA COLORADO have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $750,875 in grants to EL SISTEMA COLORADO, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EL SISTEMA COLORADO?
- Wend II Inc is the largest funder on record, with $237,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EL SISTEMA COLORADO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 El Sistema Colorado →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), 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