Wisconsin · Nonprofit
Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc
Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,041 to it, the largest being EDITH L OLSEN MUSIC FOUNDATION ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $44k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $20k
- Net assets
- $105k
What Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc does
Mission
Greater Milwaukee El Sistemas mission is to participate in the global movement to create community connections through affordable string musice instruction for children. We provide skill based music instruction for children ages 4-18, in the cello, viola and violin. Greater Milwaukee El Sistema served 70 students in 2025.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Greater Milwaukee El Sistema provides string musicinstruction for children ages 4-18. Skill basedinstruction teaches students cello, viola and violin skills. Exposure to group performances allows children to grow into mature musicians. Mentoring opportunities allow older children to develop leadership skills.
$42,274 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $42,274.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $33k to $96k (+189%).
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.
80% of Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
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
Sarena Lawrence
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $12k → $23.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc’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
Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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 Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 87% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
88% of Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $41 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
Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc has grown faster than half of the 10,713 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,713 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like Greater Milwaukee El Sistema 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Greater Milwaukee El Sistema 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.
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 Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc?
- Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc (Wisconsin) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,041 to it, the largest being EDITH L OLSEN MUSIC FOUNDATION ($10,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $20,041 in grants to Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc?
- EDITH L OLSEN MUSIC FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Greater Milwaukee El Sistema →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing