Texas · Nonprofit
Red River Merchants Association Inc
Red River Merchants Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $513,219 to it, the largest being AUSTIN DMO INC ($262,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $464k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $513k
- Net assets
- $188k
What Red River Merchants Association Inc does
Mission
Attracting more customers to the red river cultural district, preserving the cultural heritage of the red river cultural district, and specifically its role as a hub for local music, Art, Food, and nightlife in the downtown Austin area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
During the tax year 2025, the organization undertook the following three significant new program services to support and preserve the local creative community 01. Cultural Currents: A historical research, documentation, and storytelling initiative dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich musical, cultural, and diverse heritage of the Red River Cultural District. 02. District Dialogues: A community panel and event series bringing together local musicians, industry professionals, and historians to discuss career sustainability and the preservation of Austins music ecosystem.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The organization successfully produced and expanded community music initiatives to preserve the local live music ecosystem and drive economic activity within the Red River Cultural District. Accomplishments for the year include: Annual Festivals: Produced Free Week and Hot Summer Nights 2025, funding live performances, event production, and regional marketing. This supported over 300 local musicians and contractors while driving significant foot traffic to local venues and small businesses. Cultural Preservation & Education: Launched Cultural Currents (a historical research and storytelling initiative, including a quarterly print zine) and District Dialogues (a community panel series addressing career sustainability for artists and industry professionals). Mid-Week Activation: Launched Why Not Wednesday, a multi-venue live music series driving mid-week revenue for local small businesses and providing paid gigs for local artists.
$324,636 spent$463,636 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $324,636.
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 2019 to 2020, from $42k to $108k (+155%).
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 5% · 2021 9% · 2022 0% · 2024 17% · 2025 39%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Red River Merchants Association Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $180k → $40k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 Red River Merchants Association Inc’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
Red River Merchants Association Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 Red River Merchants Association Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 89% · 2021 100% · 2022 77% · 2023 100% — 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
90% of Red River Merchants Association Inc's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $176k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Red River Merchants Association Inc 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 Red River Merchants Association 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Red River Merchants Association 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 Red River Merchants Association Inc?
- Red River Merchants Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $513,219 to it, the largest being AUSTIN DMO INC ($262,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Red River Merchants Association Inc have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $513,219 in grants to Red River Merchants Association Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Red River Merchants Association Inc?
- AUSTIN DMO INC is the largest funder on record, with $262,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Red River Merchants Association Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Red River Merchants Association →
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 6 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