Tennessee · Nonprofit
SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC
SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,312,666 to it, the largest being SCHILLHAHN-HUSKEY FOUNDATION ($435,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $620k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.3M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Songbirds Foundation Inc does
Mission
Songbirds strives to share the transformative experience of music across the south by delivering educational programming, perserving music history, hosting enriching events, and providing concrete resources to emerging artists.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Songbirds guitars for kids program furthers the philosophy that music is one of the most transformative forms of communication - transcending barriers and creating common ground through its ability to bind us together and strengthen us as individuals. No matter how different or distant a culture we can always gain an understanding of that culture through music. Guitar for kids provides guitar lessons, music therapy, and other musical experiences to hundreds of youth across chattanooga through classes that focus on guitar basics and provide students with the fundamentals by exposing them to a wide variety of playing styles and techniques.
$4,650 spent0% of program spendingFacility donation and food, beverage & merchandise sales - guests are surrounded by music memorabilia, vintage guitars, a custom-built oak and ash stage, and interactive exhibits. Radio hour- live radio show featuring celebrated musicians including performances, interviews, and audience q&a.
$30,806 spent3% of program spendingN/a
$0 spent0% of program spendingThe program integrates regional and national artists and students are able to attend free shows and perform, collaborate, and record with these artists. Classes also offer students a forum to discuss social, health, and life issues. Certified music therapists use music to help students work through these issues. Students also work in groups that allow them to create friendships and establish music bonds with other players. This type of group interaction is essential for kids who have experienced bullying, or have developmental disorders such as autism or asperger's. The program was modified to serve students wherever they were working from home or in person at school. We know that music helps kids cope with the devastating demands that the pandemic placed on families. The program allowed over 4,500 kids to have interactive musical experiences with the organization's teachers and other students. We worked with 102 schools and 22 partner programs to train their chorus teachers how to teach our curriculum to their students. We then provided each teacher with a donated set of 25-50 guitars, curriculum books, equipment (picks, strings, bags, tuners), and ongoing support. More than 832…
$982,949 spent97% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,018,405.
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 $11M to $17M (+54%).
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 1% · 2021 18% · 2022 1% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
38% of SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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
John Dooley
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $5k → $186k.
3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION 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
SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 44% · 2019 31% · 2020 70% · 2021 30% · 2022 40% · 2023 54% — 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
56% of SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
96% of SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $48k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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
- McKenzie Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION 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 SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC?
- SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,312,666 to it, the largest being SCHILLHAHN-HUSKEY FOUNDATION ($435,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,312,666 in grants to SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC?
- SCHILLHAHN-HUSKEY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $435,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SONGBIRDS FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Songbirds →
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 17 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