Skip to content

Washington · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF KEXP

FRIENDS OF KEXP (Washington) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,993,919 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($5,833,661). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$19M
Funders on record
78
Grants received
$14M
Net assets
$18M
57/78 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 13%
01What it does

What Friends of Kexp does

Mission

Kexp's mission is to enrich your life by championing music and discovery.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Kexp operates kexp-fm 90.3 in seattle, wa, and kexc-fm 92.7 in alameda, ca, reaching a combined average of 234,000 weekly listeners with dj-curated music discovery programming, including variety mixes, genre-focused mixes, live performances, and special broadcasts.

    $7,480,526 spent
    55% of program spending
  2. Kexp delivers global music discovery online through live and on demand radio streaming, podcasts, editorial content, live in-studio session videos, and social media content, reaching more than 2 million people each week.

    $3,946,331 spent
    29% of program spending
  3. Kexp produces music discovery events and fosters community engagement through concerts, live instudio sessions, artist discussions, and related programs in seattle, the bay area, and other locations, reaching thousands of attendees each year.

    $2,158,756 spent$50,588 earned by the program
    16% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,585,613.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($20M) Expenses 100 ($8.8M) Net assets 100 ($26M)2018 Revenue 49 ($9.6M) Expenses 120 ($11M) Net assets 94 ($24M)2019 Revenue 54 ($11M) Expenses 132 ($12M) Net assets 95 ($24M)2020 Revenue 61 ($12M) Expenses 136 ($12M) Net assets 99 ($26M)2021 Revenue 74 ($14M) Expenses 132 ($12M) Net assets 106 ($27M)2022 Revenue 71 ($14M) Expenses 176 ($15M) Net assets 89 ($23M)2023 Revenue 75 ($15M) Expenses 198 ($17M) Net assets 86 ($22M)2024 Revenue 80 ($16M) Expenses 222 ($19M) Net assets 74 ($19M)2025 Revenue 96 ($19M) Expenses 235 ($21M) Net assets 69 ($18M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (96)Expenses (235)Net assets (69)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 2021 to 2022, from $30M to $35M (+19%).

$30M
$27M
$27M
$28M
$30M
$35M
$35M
$31M
$29M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 3% · 2018 10% · 2019 6% · 2020 16% · 2021 7% · 2022 5% · 2023 12% · 2024 4% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

90% of FRIENDS OF KEXP’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 207 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$11M
’17
−$946k
’18
−$1.0M
’19
−$32k
’20
$2.8M
’21
−$1.6M
’22
−$2.7M
’23
−$3.8M
’24
−$1.9M
’25
1.0
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

Ethan Raup

President & CEO

Board chair

Cindy Bolton

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed232423272731313435
Joined·+2+1+6+2+7+3+6+3
No longer listed·12223332
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 32 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $1.9M.

16 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 FRIENDS OF KEXP’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 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

FRIENDS OF KEXP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

91% 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 FRIENDS OF KEXP.

42%
largest funder
68%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 72% · 2019 83% · 2020 43% · 2021 40% · 2022 32% · 2023 30% — 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

48% of FRIENDS OF KEXP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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

FRIENDS OF KEXP draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 22 states in all.

WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
DE
KS
TN
NC
DC
GA
TX

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.6M 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

FRIENDS OF KEXP's funding base is broadening — from 17 funders to 32 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−10% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.0mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 144 youth development nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like FRIENDS OF KEXP

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 Washington

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 8%Fundraising 26%

Governance

23
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

92%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 35 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF KEXP: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 FRIENDS OF KEXP?
FRIENDS OF KEXP (Washington) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,993,919 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($5,833,661). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FRIENDS OF KEXP have?
IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $13,993,919 in grants to FRIENDS OF KEXP, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF KEXP?
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $5,833,661 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF KEXP find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Friends of Kexp →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 78 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