Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA
SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 111 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,729,050 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,766,000). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 111
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Settlement Music School of Philadelphia does
Mission
Settlement music school's mission is to provide the highest quality instruction in music and the related arts to children and adults, without regard to age, race or financial circumstances. Settlement's broad range of programs, taught by highly credentialed and dedicated faculty, help students of all ages achieve artistic, educational, and social goals. Settlement offers more than 11,000 weekly services of music and arts instruction in more than 20 instruments, group classes, choirs, chamber groups, jazz ensembles, orchestra, arts therapy, dance, and creative movement, both onsite and online at five community branches and online, and with more than 70 community partnerships. We are leading the nation in increasing access to music education and pioneering tools to educate tomorrow's children.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Settlement's financial aid program is the vehicle through which underserved children gain access to the school's programs. The school annually provides approximately $3 million in financial aid and scholarships across all programs to nearly 60% of its students. Settlement has been successful in recruiting and retaining credentialed and experienced faculty. This faculty provides 11,000 weekly music and arts related programs and services to all the communities that the school serves, including low-income and underserved communities. Settlement employs approximately 160 faculty, making it one of the largest employers of music educators in pennsylvania.
$10,494,405 spentof which $920,449 as grants$7,096,484 earned by the program82% of program spendingThe kaleidoscope program uses the arts to prepare 114 low-income preschool students for academic success. The program has a proven record of success, with participant's school readiness scores three times higher than peers in non-arts enriched programs. 90% of the students in the kaleidoscope program qualify for head start funding due to family income or special needs and attend tuition-free. The innovation and quality of kaleidoscope has helped it become a national model of arts-based preschool education.
$1,707,817 spentof which $1,459,349 as grants$1,042,258 earned by the program13% of program spendingSettlement's music education pathways program is an afterschool program at eight philadelphia schools, in operation since 2012, serving over 250 students with over 130 hours of ensemble and group lessons in band, orchestra, and choir. Research has shown students living in poverty to experience gains in socio-emotional learning while engaged in this program.
$533,083 spentof which $388,553 as grants$7,730 earned by the program4% of program spendingSettlement is the lead partner of the pmay artists initiative, since 2017 collaborating with six youth music organizations to increase diversity in the professional classical music field. Pmay artists are a cohort of students coming from historically excluded or financially disadvantaged backgrounds, ranging from 5th-12th grade, who receive all the support necessary to become professional classical musicians. Since its inception, pmay artists have received extensive audition, lesson, and instrument loan assistance that has enabled them to be accepted into top music schools and conservatories, including carnegie mellon university, new england conservatory of music, cleveland institute of music, and boston university, with scholarship and financial aid offers of up to $12 million.
$0 spent0% of program spendingThe kardon center at settlement music school offers music, art, and dance/movement therapy services to individuals with diverse needs at settlement branches and at other locations in our community. Creative arts therapy is a form of non-verbal psychotherapy using the senses to open new channels of communication between participants and their therapists, families, and communities. Creative arts therapy uses the arts in order to achieve therapeutic goals. Goals for creative arts therapy are tailored to each participant, and benefits may include improvement in social skills, psychological factors, cognition, language, and physical skills. 20+ certified creative arts therapists deliver services onsite and at multiple community branches. The program is approved for medicaid.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,735,305.
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 2024 to 2025, from $34M to $39M (+15%).
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% · 2020 0% · 2021 10% · 2022 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
51% of SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Helen Eaton
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Bruce Leto
Chair of trustees
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 50 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $1.5M.
16 of 111 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 111 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
SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
29% 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 SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 33% · 2019 61% · 2020 46% · 2021 25% · 2022 29% · 2023 30% — 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 SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
61% of SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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
SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $275k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$275k
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 SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Sms Collaborative Management LLC · disregarded
- Settlement Music School Pre-K Scholarship Collaborative LLC · disregarded
- Camden School of Musical Arts · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA: 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 SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA?
- SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 111 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,729,050 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,766,000). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA have?
- IRS filings report 111 organizations giving $13,729,050 in grants to SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA, 66 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,766,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SETTLEMENT MUSIC SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA 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 111 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