Missouri · Nonprofit
KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA
KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $735,008 to it, the largest being Greater Kansas City Community Foundation ($449,094). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $557k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $735k
- Net assets
- $108k
What Kansas City Jazz Orchestra does
Mission
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra is dedicated to promoting the rich culture of Kansas City through performance and education. We strive to be a leading voice, ensuring that Kansas City's influential jazz tradition continues to thrive and evolve.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Kansas City Jazz Orchestra (KCJO) continued its steady evolution during the 2024-2025 season, building on more than two decades of artistic growth while clarifying its mission, organizational structure, and long-term sustainability. Founded in 2003 by retired attorney Gene Hall, along with jazz musician and educator Jim Mair and his wife Mary, KCJO was created to preserve, perform, and advance the Kansas City jazz tradition through large-ensemble performance and education. Gene Hall, whose vision and leadership were instrumental in the organization's founding and early success, passed away in 2024. His commitment to Kansas City's cultural life continues to guide the organization's work. KCJO's 20th anniversary season marked a significant inflection point for the organization. Anniversary performances at the Folly Theater featuring Marilyn Maye, who appeared at the Orchestra's inaugural concert in November 2003, brought together longtime supporters, original ensemble members, and new audiences. These performances coincided with a comprehensive rebranding effort and prompted a period of strategic assessment focused on financial sustainability, public awareness, and internal…
$335,263 spent$172,079 earned by the program94% of program spendingEducation remained a core component of KCJO's mission and strategic planning. A specific objective of the plan was to expand access to jazz education for students and educators in both urban and rural school districts. KCJO advanced this goal through multiple initiatives, including summer camp partnerships and conference performances. During the summer of 2024, KCJO musicians visited 19 locations across the region and reached an estimated 2,000 students, many of whom attend schools with limited access to arts programming. In addition, KCJO performed at the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) Conference, reaching more than 800 Missouri music educators and students and increasing statewide awareness of KCJO's educational and artistic resources.
$21,225 spent$13,485 earned by the program6% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $356,488.
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 $294k to $90k (−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: 2017 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 4% · 2020 3% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 2023 4% · 2024 6% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA’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. 6 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.
Chief executive
Alyssa Bell Jackson
Executive Director
Board chair
Brian Johnston
Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $168k → $61k.
5 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA’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
KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
66% 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 KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 100% · 2019 98% · 2020 45% · 2021 49% · 2022 46% · 2023 49% — 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
38% of KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
66% of KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA'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 $252k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $483k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA 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
Organizations like KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA: 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 KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA?
- KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $735,008 to it, the largest being Greater Kansas City Community Foundation ($449,094). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $735,008 in grants to KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA?
- Greater Kansas City Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $449,094 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Kansas City Jazz Orchestra →
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 19 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