Washington · Nonprofit
Refugee Choir Project
Refugee Choir Project (Washington) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,099,797 to it, the largest being M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST ($255,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $169k
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $39k
What Refugee Choir Project does
Mission
Creating spaces for authentic expression, interconnection, and healing through song and music
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Creating space for authentic expression: The Tacoma Refugee Choir (TRC) fosters authentic expression through 37 weekly choir rehearsals held in 2025, creating space for honest conversations where people bring their unique gifts and perspectives. Members learn that their voice and stories matter, messages they otherwise hear too seldom. In this supportive environment, members regularly led warm-ups, conducted songs at concerts, and proposed repertoire--for example, members Gail and Katia brought Common Ground and Life to the Choir, which were performed at the June 1 Commond Threads concert. Katia also taught the Choir an entire song in Belarusian, sharing content about the difficult political situation in her country that deepened everyones understanding. The band Naviband was so moved to learn their song had been performed that they posted about it on their Instagram page. This cultivation of authentic expression has transformed members confidence both within and beyond the Choir, with members crediting TRC participation as instrumental in taking first steps in community leadership--including one younger member being offered a public speaking role at the Seattle-based Rhapsody…
$24,845 spentof which $35,681 as grants$2,760 earned by the program17% of program spendingInterconnection and Community Building: TRC events demonstrate the power of interconnection and community building across diverse populations. In 2025, our spring Common Threads concert united 322 people at Theater on the Square through performances featuring community artists, soloists, and a Rwandan dance group, with Choir members passing yarn from stage to the audience as a symbol of the tapestry woven when communities lift each other up. Our Cultural Workshop Series brought programming to six Tacoma neighborhoods--Central, South End, South, Eastside, Northeast, and North End--with an average of 30 participants per workshop learning about Venezuelan, Filipino, and other cultural traditions through music, song, and hands-on participation. Our Youth Program grew to nine schools from elementary through high school level, mostly in South and Eastside Tacoma, culminating in the May 8th Tacoma Sings concert at Mount Tahoma High School, where 400 students performed together before and audience of 600 parents and family members. New and renewed partnerships--including with Tacoma Community House, Tacoma Arts Lives ACE Program, ArtFunds Cultural Partners Network, and Parks Tacoma--are…
$112,726 spentof which $107,942 as grants78% of program spendingHealing Through the Arts: TRC provides healing through the arts by creating opportunities for emotional support, creative expression, and meaningful connection. The emotional resonance of TRCs work was evident throughout the 2025 season, with concert audience members sharing powerful responses: I didnt realize how much I needed this. I laughed and cried. It was so powerful, and I received ten years of therapy at this concert. Members have credited TRC with growing their confidence as community leaders, with one survey respondent noting they had begun volunteering in the community through connections made in the Choir. Our School Residency Program brought healing and joy to young people across nine Tacoma public schools, with a program teacher sharing: They are so thrilled with that performance and experience. Thank you so much for everything this semester--its been such a valuable and fun journey. A TPS electives instructor added: There is something powerful that happens when students from many schools and grade levels come together to share their talent. These artistic experiences created safe spaces for processing emotions, building confidence, and experiencing the joy and hope…
$6,070 spentof which $22,500 as grants4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $143,641.
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 2019 to 2020, from $15k to $104k (+589%).
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 40% · 2021 17% · 2022 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of Refugee Choir Project’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. 4 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.
Board chair
Erin Galeno
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 11 funders, grant income rose $5k → $273k.
5 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 Refugee Choir Project’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
Refugee Choir Project has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
35% 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 Refugee Choir Project.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 75% · 2019 50% · 2020 39% · 2021 28% · 2022 30% · 2023 43% — 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
58% of Refugee Choir Project's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
78% of Refugee Choir Project's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $212k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Refugee Choir Project has grown faster 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
Government funding Refugee Choir Project receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 Refugee Choir Project
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 Washington
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
100%
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 Refugee Choir Project: 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 Refugee Choir Project?
- Refugee Choir Project (Washington) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,099,797 to it, the largest being M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST ($255,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Refugee Choir Project have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $1,099,797 in grants to Refugee Choir Project, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Refugee Choir Project?
- M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $255,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Refugee Choir Project find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Refugee Choir Project →
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 27 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