Wisconsin · Nonprofit
RADIO MILWAUKEE INC
RADIO MILWAUKEE INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,741,970 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($2,340,538). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 64
- Grants received
- $7.7M
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What Radio Milwaukee Inc does
Mission
To reach a new generation of radio listeners on air, online and in the community with a compelling selection of music and public affairs programming. The corporation celebrates milwaukee music, arts, heritage, and culture by supporting and contributing to a community that encourages multi-ethnic collaboration and conversation and by promoting a positive global identity for the city of milwaukee.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Radio milwaukee is a public radio station in partnership with milwaukee public schools. Established in 2007, the station highlights milwaukee's vibrant community, showcasing its musicians, non-profits, and individuals who contribute to its diversity and vitality. Daily, radio milwaukee features fresh music, local artists, and community stories that celebrate those working to enhance the city's livability. The station fosters an active online community through social media and a dynamic website with community calendars. Listeners worldwide can tune in via online streaming. In 2024, radio milwaukee continued its programming of nationally syndicated shows like alt latino, all songs considered, jazz night in america, and world cafe, alongside new local segments and programs.
$1,932,722 spent$1,611,124 earned by the program75% of program spendingIn june 2022, radio milwaukee launched its latest channel, "hyfin." this black-led, digital-first media initiative aims to connect cultures and celebrate the full range of black music. As milwaukee's only urban alternative radio station, hyfin offers a diverse array of black music beyond just r&b and hip-hop, while also featuring local milwaukee artists. The channel keeps audiences informed with the latest news on black culture, podcasts, and more. Hyfin broadcasts on-air at 88.9fm hd2, online at hyfin.org, and through the 88nine and hyfin mobile apps. Funding comes from generous donations by corporations, foundations, individual supporters, and sponsorships. In 2024, hyfin, powered by radio milwaukee, organized a diverse array of community-focused events, showcasing their commitment to celebrating black culture and supporting local businesses. A standout event was the blackity black holiday market. This small business saturday initiative featured black-owned vendors from the milwaukee area, offering attendees a chance to support local entrepreneurs while enjoying youth performances, food, and music curated by hyfin djs. Hyfin continued its major fundraiser gala, demonstrating the…
$266,087 spent$512,978 earned by the program10% of program spendingRadio milwaukee produces and airs short stories and public service announcements that highlight not-for-profit organizations and individuals dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in milwaukee. Each story, roughly the length of a song, is broadcast daily as part of the music mix and also available in a longer podcast format on the radiomilwaukee.org website. Listeners can visit the site to learn more about the featured organizations and access links to their websites for involvement, contributions, or additional information. In 2024, radio milwaukee showcased over 170 individuals and organizations, focusing on themes such as volunteerism, arts and culture, neighborhoods, youth, the environment, social justice, and narratives from underrepresented communities.
$231,608 spent9% of program spendingIn 2018, radio milwaukee launched an initiative designed to enhance its support for the local music scene. Initially called "backline and rebranded as "amplifier" in 2021, this program aims to cultivate the growth of milwaukee's music landscape and attract emerging talent to the city. Amplifier originally began by providing intensive, year-long career guidance to four independent artists. However, the program has since transitioned into a community-based model to broaden its reach and impact.with the program's evolution, amplifier now includes an ongoing "master class" series, connecting milwaukee artists, managers, songwriters, and producers to foster collaboration and education. The series strengthens ties within the music community by offering sessions on essential topics such as building business credit, production techniques, songwriting, mental wellness, negotiation skills, and live performance strategies. These sessions are recorded and archived, contributing to a permanent content library shared across various platforms. In its history, the program has generated over 110,000 views on social media, 14,000 podcast downloads, and attracted 400 in-person participants.…
$89,544 spent$1,869 earned by the program3% of program spendingGrace weber's music lab is a free monthly music and arts education program for greater milwaukee area high school students. In this program, students have the opportunity to learn about the music and entertainment industries through featured guests from the music industry. Students are also give the opportunity to collaborate, perform, and build relationships with their peers. The program takes place the last friday of every month during the school year in the radio milwaukee performance space. The sessions involve a performance and interview with the featured guest, as well as a question and answer period with student inquiries. Afterwards, the participating students may perform in an open mic atmosphere where constructive feedback and observations by the featured guest and radio milwaukee's music education coordinator are offered. The program is designed to provide a safe space for student artists to create, be heard, and feel valued. In 2024, 291 students throughout milwaukee participated in the program.
$62,936 spent$73,332 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,582,897.
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 $5.2M to $4.0M (−23%).
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: 2020 15% · 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of RADIO MILWAUKEE INC’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. 3 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.
Chief executive
Maxie Jackson Iii
Executive director
Board chair
Ross Williams
Board chair (president)
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $337k → $735k.
14 of 64 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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: $100k from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest Novo Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money RADIO MILWAUKEE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of RADIO MILWAUKEE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 64 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
RADIO MILWAUKEE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
82% 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 RADIO MILWAUKEE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 45% · 2019 48% · 2020 43% · 2021 59% · 2022 50% · 2023 41% — 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
52% of RADIO MILWAUKEE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
RADIO MILWAUKEE INC draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
RADIO MILWAUKEE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like RADIO MILWAUKEE INC
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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Sound Foundation LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RADIO MILWAUKEE INC: 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 RADIO MILWAUKEE INC?
- RADIO MILWAUKEE INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,741,970 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($2,340,538). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RADIO MILWAUKEE INC have?
- IRS filings report 64 organizations giving $7,741,970 in grants to RADIO MILWAUKEE INC, 48 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RADIO MILWAUKEE INC?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $2,340,538 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RADIO MILWAUKEE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Radio Milwaukee →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 64 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