Colorado · Nonprofit
LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY
LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY (Colorado) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,271,664 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($300,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $437k
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $39k
What Love Light and Melody does
Mission
Love light + melody was founded in 2006 to raise funds and awareness for a community of children living and working in trash dump communities in managua, nicaragua. In 20 years, llm has established ileana's school of hope, organized countless team trips and "day of light" community celebrations, produced an award-winning documentary film - ileana's smile - built out a high school and university scholarship program, and is now expanding ileana's school to include a high school campus. We amplify the stories of vulnerable children and create hope through the power of education. We believe every child deserves to learn, grow and write their own story. We envision a world where every child has the opportunity to flourish.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nicaragua - ileana's school of hope - love light + melody partners with open hearts ministries to operate a primary school in the villa guadelupe resettlement community serving approximately 205 children who used to live and work in the trash dump. Currently ileana's school offers 1st through 6th grade education, with plans to expand through 11th grade increasing the student capacity to 700. The organization also provides annual scholarships and tutoring for 40-45 secondary school and university students across managua.
$20,968 spentof which $348 as grants6% of program spendingNicaragua - school expansion - love light & melody is partnering with engineering ministries international "emi- and has completed a conceptual design to expand ileana's school by adding a high school campus, including two-story ada accessible facilities throughout. Digital 3-d renderings illustrate adequate classroom and administration spaces as well as dedicated art/music and technology lab/library facilities. The school has acquired several adjacent parcels of land to grow the physical footprint of the campus as well and awaits government permitting.
$113,260 spentof which $113,260 as grants33% of program spendingIleana's smile is a documentary film which tells much of llm's origin story, and is a fundraising and awareness tool for ileana's school of hope. The film has received 15+ awards in the film festival space, and released on apple tv / amazon / youtube in 2025. It tells the story of a young girl whose lightning smile, bravery, and heart changed our lives forever. The film exists to shine a light on child vulnerability, and the power of education to transform lives.
$205,341 spent$13,299 earned by the program60% of program spendingIn 2016 love light & melody formed a weaving co-operative in a neighboring trash dump community in nicaragua to provide vocational skills training and meaningful livelihoods opportunity for five families. The weaving co- operative produces "hope bracelets" woven from colorful trash bags which are sold to us donors, and given away promotionally at llm events. In 10 years our weavers have produced more than 25,000 bracelets.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $339,569.
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 2018 to 2019, from $128k to $841k (+559%).
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.
97% of LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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 6 funders, grant income fell $150k → $90k.
8 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY’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
LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
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 LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 23% · 2019 55% · 2020 57% · 2021 92% · 2022 67% · 2023 31% — 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
40% of LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
74% of LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY'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 $326k that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $946k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY's revenue grew 29% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY: 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 LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY?
- LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY (Colorado) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,271,664 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($300,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,271,664 in grants to LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOVE LIGHT AND MELODY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 25 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