California · Nonprofit
Guitar Foundation of America
Guitar Foundation of America (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,639 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($56,650). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $463k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $122k
- Net assets
- $194k
What Guitar Foundation of America does
Mission
The Guitar Foundation of America inspires artistry, builds community, and promotes the classical guitar internationally through excellence in performance, literature, education and research.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The GFA has been dedicated as a nonprofit organization supporting the development of the classical guitar community since its inception in 1973 at the National GuitarConvention sponsored by the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). It has, since the 1970's, published the quarterly journal Soundboard, annual scholarly journal, Soundboard Scholar, and quarterly youth oriented publication Prodigies; established a large archive of scores, books and manuscripts; hosted the annual GFA Convection and musical performance competitions including the prestigiousInternational Concert Artist Competition and International Youth Competitions; commissioned composers of classical guitar music; organized the annual GFA-sponsored competition winner's concert tour currently comprised of approximately 50 concerts around the United States; held multiple annual Regional Symposia(one day mini-conventions) in various locations; and stablished pre-college classical guitar programs in cities across the country.
$323,367 spent$229,526 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $323,367.
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 2021 to 2022, from $442k to $364k (−18%).
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: 2020 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 3% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
48% of Guitar Foundation of America’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Chris Mallett
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $8k → $17k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 89% 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 Guitar Foundation of America’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
Guitar Foundation of America leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
89% 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 Guitar Foundation of America.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 99% · 2022 53% · 2023 50% — 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
25% of Guitar Foundation of America's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% 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
89% of Guitar Foundation of America's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $14k that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $108k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Guitar Foundation of America 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
Government funding Guitar Foundation of America receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $85k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$85k
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 Guitar Foundation of America
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
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 Guitar Foundation of America: 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 Guitar Foundation of America?
- Guitar Foundation of America (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,639 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($56,650). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 89% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Guitar Foundation of America have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $121,639 in grants to Guitar Foundation of America, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Guitar Foundation of America?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $56,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Guitar Foundation of America 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.
Play a game about who funds Guitar Foundation of America →
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 8 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