Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION
READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,942,313 to it, the largest being GIBBS VAR CHAR ($1,200,625). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $23M
What Reading Musical Foundation does
Mission
To advance and advocate for music education and appreciation in berks county.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Student scholarships - the scholarship program provides financial assistance to committed berks county music students who audition on merit or demonstrate financial need. Scholarships are available for piano, organ, woodwind, brass, percussion, string, harp, guitar and vocal students, as well as awards for college tuition. Financial need-based scholarships support summer camp participation, private music study, and instrument upgrade requests.
$262,849 spentof which $262,849 as grants28% of program spendingRmf provides grants to music-presenting organizations and special projects that strengthen berks county's cultural life. Funding is awarded based on each organization's ability to advance rmf's mission of inspiring, nurturing, and sustaining a vibrant musical community. In 2024, rmf supported 24 local ensembles and educational initiatives through program grants, underwriting performances, residencies, and music education experiences throughout the region.
$582,692 spentof which $371,524 as grants62% of program spendingRmf shares the musical experience with members of the community who may not otherwise have access to music education or performance opportunities. Programs include operation replay (instrument recycling and loan program), music in the schools assemblies, after-school music instruction in reading and olivet boys & girls clubs, the latin music after-school program, and the digital music lab initiative. Collectively, rmf provides more than 15 hours per week of free after-school music education and workshops for k-12 students from september through may.
$99,206 spentof which $91,411 as grants$800 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $944,747.
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 2020 to 2021, from $16M to $21M (+27%).
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: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION’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. 0 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.
Board chair
Paul G Oxholm
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $68k → $261k.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION’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
READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 34% · 2019 67% · 2020 65% · 2021 63% · 2022 66% · 2023 67% — 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
83% of READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 84% 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
READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION draws 78% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $109k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
52%
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 READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION: 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 READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION?
- READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,942,313 to it, the largest being GIBBS VAR CHAR ($1,200,625). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,942,313 in grants to READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION?
- GIBBS VAR CHAR is the largest funder on record, with $1,200,625 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like READING MUSICAL FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 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