California · Nonprofit
Freshgrass Public Foundation
Freshgrass Public Foundation (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,141,076 to it, the largest being THE WLS SPENCER FOUNDATION ($712,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $951k
What Freshgrass Public Foundation does
Mission
To stimulate, preserve, promote, and sustain interest in and appreciation of American and International Roots Music.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
I. Folk Alley Program AccomplishmentsInternet/Terrestrial Radio:--------------------------- Folk Alley is a nonprofit, listener-supported, internet radio service that delivers a 24/7, hosted, eclectic mix of traditional folk, contemporary singer/songwriters, roots, and Americana music to listeners all over the world. In addition, to the flagship hosted channel, Folk Alley also provides listeners with an opportunity to hear a variety of un-hosted side channels, including Classic Folk, Irish Music, December Holiday Music, the Halloween Scream Stream, and Fresh Cuts - which includes (Continued on Schedule O)
$2,127,399 spentof which $1,173,640 as grants100% of program spendingII. No Depression Program Accomplishments No Depression has been the roots music authority since 1995. Though it began as a pioneering publication for alt-country coverage, today we think of roots music as an umbrella term that encompasses folk, (alt-)country, bluegrass, blues, singer-songwriters, etc. Any sort of music of the people. Currently No Depression comprises a daily-updated website and a long-form, coffee table-style, quarterly print journal, all published by the nonprofit FreshGrass Foundation. You can find some background info about ND on our website, in this story from the Columbia Journalism Review, or in this piece on WMOT. You can also get an idea of what we cover in print by reading some of our (Continued on Schedule O)
III. FreshGrass Music Festivals Program AccomplishmentsA WONDERLAND OF TRADITIONAL AND CUTTING-EDGE ROOTS MUSIC-------------------------------------------------------- FreshGrass Festivals, produced by the nonprofit FreshGrass Foundation, feature a diverse lineup encompassing the best in grassroots music from traditional masters and iconic trailblazers to musical discoveries. Our festivals are rich with original compositions, spirited contests, and spontaneous collaborations. FreshGrass is a family-friendly experience that brings its venues to joyful life with music on indoor and outdoor stages, in museum galleries, and throughout its host cities. (Continued on Schedule O)
Program Service Accomplishments (continued from Form 990 Page 2)I. Folk Alley Program Accomplishmentsthe finest newest releases by contemporary artists. Folk Alleys monthly audience across all music channels ranged from 81,413 to 62,429, with an average monthly audience of 69,000 reaching 216 countries/territories across the globe. In addition to the internet radio service, Folk Alley also produced a weekly 2-hour syndicated terrestrial radio show that is carried by 63 public and community radio stations across the United States. Website:--------FolkAlley.com is the home for additional and complementary content that supports the internet radio music streams and weekly terrestrial radio show. It includes album reviews, song and video premieres, special artists interviews and features, exclusive in-studio video sessions, and the bi-monthly podcast, Why We Write hosted by acclaimed folk music journalist and author, Kim Ruehl. On average each month 21,620 individuals visit FolkAlley.com to explore and enjoy all its offerings. Visitors from 199 countries/territories spent time on FolkAlley.com. Listener-Supported/Donors:--------------------------As a service dedicated to celebrating…
Freshgrass Public Foundation is focused on sustainable solutions for the music industry. We partner with world-class institutions such as The Office Performing Arts + Film, MASS MoCA, The Momentary, Berklee College of Music, Silkroad, and many others to bring world class performing arts experiences to life. The organizations mission is to stimulate, preserve, promote, and sustain interest in and appreciation of American and International Roots Music including bluegrass, folk, americana, alternative country, blues, and other forms of innovative grassroots music and to encourage and facilitate the creation and performance of such music.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,127,399.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2019 to 2020, from $1.1M to $766k (−31%).
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: 2021 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Freshgrass Public Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 15 funders, grant income rose $2k → $1.3M.
7 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Freshgrass Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Freshgrass Public Foundation raised.
From the IRS filings of Freshgrass Public Foundation’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
Freshgrass Public Foundation has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
50% 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 Freshgrass Public Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 92% · 2022 94% · 2023 27% — 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
40% of Freshgrass Public Foundation's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 35% 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
Freshgrass Public Foundation draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Freshgrass Public Foundation has grown faster than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Freshgrass Public Foundation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $88k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$88k
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 Freshgrass Public Foundation
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Folk Alley LLC · disregarded
- Freshgrass Music LLC · disregarded
- Freshgrass LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Freshgrass Public Foundation: 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 Freshgrass Public Foundation?
- Freshgrass Public Foundation (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,141,076 to it, the largest being THE WLS SPENCER FOUNDATION ($712,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Freshgrass Public Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $3,141,076 in grants to Freshgrass Public Foundation, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Freshgrass Public Foundation?
- THE WLS SPENCER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $712,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Freshgrass Public Foundation 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 23 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