California · Nonprofit
MBIRA
MBIRA (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,354 to it, the largest being BERLIN FAMILY FUND ($9,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $119k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $17k
- Net assets
- $121k
What Mbira does
Mission
Education about and performance of Zimbabwean music
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Conducted 7 workshops of Shona music of Zimbabwe, attended byabout 80 persons, comprising a total of 1500 class hours.Taught private lessons to 28 people, comprising approx.
$0 spent0% of program spending920 class hours. Gave 13 concerts of Shona music of Zimbabwe.Published 12 audio recordings (80-minute download albums)of traditional Zimbabwean music, and started a streaming
$0 spent0% of program spendingservice, including over 300 albums of traditionalZimbabwean music.(SEE SCHEDULE O)
$81,911 spent100% of program spendingProvided educational information on Zimbabwean music and culture to K-12 school children and college students via in person classes and workshops, and email and online formats.Provided Americans traveling to Zimbabwe with information about music instructors and safety information.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $81,911.
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 2024 to 2025, from $111k to $143k (+29%).
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.
25% of MBIRA’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. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $7k → $2k.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 MBIRA’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
MBIRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
37% 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 MBIRA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 85% · 2021 92% · 2022 93% · 2023 97% — 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.
Where its funders are
MBIRA draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6k 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
MBIRA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters 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 MBIRA
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.
Public support
93%
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 MBIRA: 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 MBIRA?
- MBIRA (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,354 to it, the largest being BERLIN FAMILY FUND ($9,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MBIRA have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $17,354 in grants to MBIRA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MBIRA?
- BERLIN FAMILY FUND is the largest funder on record, with $9,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MBIRA 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 Mbira →
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 4 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