California · Nonprofit
Kern Dance Alliance
Kern Dance Alliance (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $392,830 to it, the largest being KERN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($86,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $328k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $393k
- Net assets
- $88k
What Kern Dance Alliance does
Mission
to promote/expand understanding and appreciation of dance through education and performance outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Books in Motion: DANCE + LITERACYSUMMER 2025Number of Performances: 50Number of Locations: 20Number of Artists: 235Number of Participants: 5,141Number of Free Books Given Away: 5,595Books in Motion: Dance + Literacy is an award-nominated, evidence-based summer reading program presented by KDA in partnership with the Kern County Library system. Now in its ninth year, the 2025 edition ran from July 7 to August 2, targeting primarily K-3rd grade children to combat the summer slide by promoting literacy, creativity, and physical activity. Aligned with Common Core Standards for Reading Literature, the program encourages self-expression, healthy living, and family engagement through movement and storytelling. Families attended dynamic dance performances interpreting childrens books, learned short related choreography, created take-home crafts for role-playing, and collected free books to build home libraries and motivate daily reading. By bringing stories to life through dancers movements, the initiative bypasses traditional reading barriers, tapping into imagination, curiosity, and kinesthetic learning to enhance retention, critical thinking, and cultural appreciation. The tour…
$148,347 spent67% of program spendingSpecial Events:SHINE for Girls:SHINE is an innovative, curriculum-based program that utilizes dance to teach math to middle school girls while boosting their overall self-confidence. SHINE combines formal dance training with rigorous math instruction to improve girls math scores and spark their interest in STEAM.SHINE 2025 was offered for FREE during a summer camp, July 21 July 25 from 8:00 am 1:00 pm at the dance studio at Garces Memorial High School. The innovative program taught girls concepts such as probability and statistics, order of operations, fractions, decimals, pre-algebra, and geometry. Girls participated in one-on-one mentoring sessions, small group tutoring, kinesthetic learning activities like dance, and also learned from women in STEAM guest speakers.SHINE at Valley Oaks was offered FREE to students over the course of 10 weeks. The program ran Thursdays from 1pm 3pm January 23 March 27th, 2025 in the Valley Oaks Bakersfield campus Warehouse. The innovative program taught students concepts such as probability and statistics, order of operations, fractions, decimals, pre-algebra, and geometry.Open Stage: KDA was thrilled to have hosted the third annual Open Stage…
$62,508 spentof which $675 as grants28% of program spendingADAPTIdance: DANCE + DISABILITYKDA and the League of Dreams (LoD) were proud to announce DEFYING GRAVITY the first fully produced dance recital for their annual ADAPTIdance program for people with intellectual, cognitive, and physical disabilities.Led by ADAPTIdance Program Director, Myka Steele, and Program Coordinator, Romy Jones, as well as 18 student interns representing dance organizations across the Valley, ADAPTIdance has operated since 2017 as Kern Countys only curriculum-based adaptive dance program. DEFYING GRAVITY marked a shining moment in the programs history with dancers stepping onto the Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater stage for the first time to showcase their immense talents that have been cultivated throughout the programs 20 weeks of regular dance class instruction.ADAPTIdance is taught by educators who have been trained by AXIS Dance Company, one of the nations most acclaimed performance ensembles of disabled and non-disabled dancers. ADAPTidance Program Director, Myka Steele, and Program Coordinator, Romy Jones, spearhead the program. As veteran ADAPTIdance educators, Ms. Steele and Ms. Jones have curated a forum for physical activity that is a model for kids…
$7,668 spent3% of program spendingNATIONAL HONORS SOCIETY FOR DANCE ARTSKern Dance Alliance Secondary ChapterNHSDA Information Meeting March 10, 2025 via ZoomNHSDA Induction Ceremony May 4, 2025 at Bakersfield Country ClubPROGRAM OVERVIEWNHSDA Information MeetingKDA offered an information session on Monday, March 10 via Zoom for students interested in learning more about the National Honors Society for Dance Arts. Led by KDA Program Coordinator, Whitney Pascual, students were able to learn more about the USAs most prestigious honors society for dancers who excel in artistry, leadership, and academic achievements. Students learned about the application process and that they must submit their applications by April 1 to be considered for induction.NHSDA Induction Ceremony KDA celebrated our seventh class of National Honor Society for Dance Arts / Kern Dance Alliance Secondary Chapter inductees at Bakersfield Country Club on May 4, 2025.
$4,271 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $222,794.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $49k to $4.3M (+8647%).
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: 2022 45% · 2023 99% · 2024 78% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
120% of Kern Dance Alliance’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 4 of the last 8 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 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $24k → $40k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 Kern Dance Alliance’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
Kern Dance Alliance has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
47% 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 Kern Dance Alliance.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 36% · 2019 100% · 2020 40% · 2021 46% · 2022 43% · 2023 38% — 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
60% of Kern Dance Alliance's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
92% of Kern Dance Alliance's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $128k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Kern Dance Alliance has grown faster than three-quarters 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 Kern Dance Alliance 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 Kern Dance Alliance
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
76% 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 Kern Dance Alliance: 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 Kern Dance Alliance?
- Kern Dance Alliance (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $392,830 to it, the largest being KERN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($86,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Kern Dance Alliance have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $392,830 in grants to Kern Dance Alliance, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Kern Dance Alliance?
- KERN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $86,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Kern Dance Alliance 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 10 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