Illinois · Nonprofit
Irish Music School of Chicago
Irish Music School of Chicago (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $47,522 to it, the largest being Kevin JP O'Hara Family Foundation ($25,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $236k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $48k
- Net assets
- $56k
What Irish Music School of Chicago does
Mission
The Irish Music School is committed to maintaining the strong tradition of Irish music, song and dance, to involve more people in the community of Irish music, and ensure that this type of music does not disappear in Chicago and the United States.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Irish Music School of Chicago teaches children and adults as it has been done for generations in Ireland and Irish communities around the world: as a collaboration between Irish musicians, teachers, students and the community itself. Students learn almost entirely by ear with little to no reference to written music. The School does more than just teach students the tunes, though. In keeping with the tradition of Irish music, the School tells the stories behind the tunes, and the significance of being part of a living musical community, a community that values its senior members and is much larger than any individual.The Irish Music School is committed to maintaining the strong tradition of Irish music, song and dance, to involve more people in the community of Irish music, and ensure that this type of music does not disappear in Chicago and the United States.
$241,722 spent$235,859 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $241,722.
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 2023 to 2024, from $106k to $62k (−41%).
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: 2024 10% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
16% of Irish Music School of Chicago’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $5k → $11k.
1 of 5 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 Irish Music School of Chicago’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
Irish Music School of Chicago leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 50% · 2022 71% · 2023 95% — 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.
Where its funders are
Irish Music School of Chicago draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $22 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
Irish Music School of Chicago has grown faster 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
Organizations like Irish Music School of Chicago
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 Irish Music School of Chicago: 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 Irish Music School of Chicago?
- Irish Music School of Chicago (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $47,522 to it, the largest being Kevin JP O'Hara Family Foundation ($25,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Irish Music School of Chicago have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $47,522 in grants to Irish Music School of Chicago, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Irish Music School of Chicago?
- Kevin JP O'Hara Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Irish Music School of Chicago find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Irish Music School of Chicago →
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 5 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