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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,938,140 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($1,875,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.4M
Funders on record
76
Grants received
$5.9M
Net assets
$8.7M
31/76 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 72%
01What it does

What Ellis Marsalis Center for Music Inc does

Mission

To oversee the operation of a community center/performance hall/recording studio and to teach music/dance/computer literacy to children, to provide facilities for the advancement of new orleans musicians and other performing artists and to interact with residents.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. During 2024, the use of the center's recording facilities and performance space continued to be used for production training programs, musician's assistance programs, after-school programs, academic enrichment, homework assistance, independent study projects, cultural enrichment and community assistance.

    $2,168,711 spent$56,095 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,168,711.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($1.2M) Expenses 100 ($2.2M) Net assets 100 ($11M)2020 Revenue 148 ($1.8M) Expenses 100 ($2.2M) Net assets 96 ($11M)2021 Revenue 125 ($1.5M) Expenses 101 ($2.2M) Net assets 90 ($9.9M)2022 Revenue 224 ($2.8M) Expenses 99 ($2.2M) Net assets 95 ($10M)2023 Revenue 138 ($1.7M) Expenses 112 ($2.5M) Net assets 88 ($9.7M)2024 Revenue 115 ($1.4M) Expenses 114 ($2.5M) Net assets 78 ($8.7M)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (115)Expenses (114)Net assets (78)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 2023 to 2024, from $10M to $9.2M (−11%).

$11M
$11M
$10M
$11M
$10M
$9.2M
201920202021202220232024
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 27% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

91% of ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,814 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$965k
’19
−$381k
’20
−$686k
’21
$592k
’22
−$761k
’23
−$1.1M
’24
3.8
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.

Chief executive

Waynette Dabney

Executive director

Board chair

Ann Marie Wilkins

Chairperson & president

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

201920202021202220232024
Listed111414141617
Joined·+3+0+1+3+2
No longer listed·00111
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $156k → $1.2M.

13 of 76 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 76 funders by total. 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

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 56%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

32%
largest funder
56%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 43% · 2019 21% · 2020 26% · 2021 36% · 2022 54% · 2023 54% — growing more concentrated.

“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

36% of ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 14 states in all.

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
MO
DE
AZ
AR
TN
LA
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Massachusetts out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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

ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC is better cushioned than half of the 11,274 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−77% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve3.8mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC 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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 8%Fundraising 6%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

75%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

IL
MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC 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 ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC?
ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,938,140 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($1,875,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC have?
IRS filings report 76 organizations giving $5,938,140 in grants to ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC INC?
THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,875,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ELLIS MARSALIS CENTER FOR MUSIC 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 Ellis Marsalis Center for Music →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 76 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