California · Nonprofit
GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM
GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,094,568 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,492,502). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $683k
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $380k
What Guitars in the Classroom does
Mission
To provide music integration training, programs and artist residencies to teachers, grades tk-6
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Guitars in the Classroom (gitc) continues to reach over a quarter of a million students each year by training their teachers to lead in music related instruction within the classroom. Gitc has provided teachers at primarily lower economic situation schools with free guitars, ukeleles musical accessories, materials and free music lessons and workshops with integration into regular and special education classroom learning curriculum. Gitc has received and expended donated advertising services in the amount of $10,920. This is reflected in the internal financial statements and not recorded as revenue or expense on the 990 tax return.
$850,919 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $850,919.
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 $389k to $656k (+69%).
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: 2018 5% · 2019 14% · 2020 11% · 2021 10% · 2022 9% · 2023 56% · 2024 47% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $59k → $623k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM’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
GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 45% · 2019 45% · 2020 34% · 2021 52% · 2022 90% · 2023 87% — 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
67% of GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
84% of GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM'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 $336k that is directly attributable, 79% of it comes from funders outside California, across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM has grown faster than half of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$50k
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 GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM: 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 GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM?
- GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,094,568 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,492,502). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $2,094,568 in grants to GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,492,502 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GUITARS IN THE CLASSROOM 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 Guitars in the Classroom →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing