Missouri · Nonprofit
NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM
NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $468,183 to it, the largest being REGIONAL CULTURAL AND PERFORMING ARTS DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ($155,713). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2023
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $468k
- Net assets
- $-419234
What National Blues Museum does
Mission
The National Blues Museum explores and preserves the historic significance of the blues as the foundation of american music, celebrates the genre's various styles and recognizes the musicians who created, sustain, and continue to advance the art form.to achieve our mission, the National Blues Museum will;- present historical and modern-day information about blues music;- educate through live performances;- provide interactive technology;- showcase various exhibitions;- involve diverse communities through programming; and- serve as a forum for music education and the blues legacy.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Program
To build and operate a National Blues Museum that explores the blues and celebrate the genre as the foundation of all modern american music. The facility opened in april 2016 and educates guests in an entertaining environment that includes high impact technology driven experiences, a 120-seat theatre, artifact-driven exhibits and robust public programming. The National Blues Museum (nbm) will use blues music to enhance learning and creative thinking as an educational bridge to american music, history, social studies, geography, science, and math.implementing a varity of innovative educational strategies, nbm will offer dynamic educational programs that will:- provide teachers with resources that connect students to america's rich musical heritage.- lead the movement to increase music education in schools and communities with a focus on underprivileged communities.- explore the history and sociology in the 20th century through the prism of the blues.- address race, diversity and culture through the blues.- highlight worldwide artistic contributions made by african-americans.
$947,057 spent$419,786 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $947,057.
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 2022 to 2023, from $404k to $203k (−50%).
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: 2018 16% · 2021 53% · 2022 7% · 2023 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
60% of NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 7 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $58k → $109k.
2 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $513k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest National Blues Museum Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM raised.
From the IRS filings of NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 18 of 19 funders by total. 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
NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% 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
76% 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 NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 100% · 2019 70% · 2020 62% · 2021 68% · 2022 27% · 2023 41% — broadly stable.
“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
17% of NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM'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
90% of NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
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
NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,778 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2023
Government funding NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$1.2M
- National Endowment for the Humanities$192k
- National Endowment for the Arts$40k
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 NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- National Blues Museum Foundation · exempt
- Nbm Blocker Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM: 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 NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM?
- NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $468,183 to it, the largest being REGIONAL CULTURAL AND PERFORMING ARTS DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ($155,713). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $468,183 in grants to NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM?
- REGIONAL CULTURAL AND PERFORMING ARTS DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION is the largest funder on record, with $155,713 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM 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 National Blues Museum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), 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