Washington · Nonprofit
Songs of Black Folk
Songs of Black Folk (Washington) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,000 to it, the largest being REAL PROGRESS FOUNDATION ($10,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $252k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $15k
- Net assets
- $-83094
What Songs of Black Folk does
Mission
The mission of Songs of Black Folk is to provide the Pacific Northwest audience a worldclass fine arts production that features elite African American artists both national and local. The aim of SBF is to provide a Cultural Arts experience that rivals the most elite productions presented anywhere in the United States. In essence Songs of Black Folk is the Pacific Northwests opportunity to annually experience the best of Black folk. And by doing so inspire the next generation of African American artists.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Songs of Black Folk carried out its mission by producing an annual fine arts performance in the Pacific Northwest featuring outstanding African American artists from both national and local communities. The production provided audiences with a high-quality cultural arts experience that celebrates the excellence and heritage of Black artists. During the year the organization presented its annual program reaching approximately 1,000 attendees. The event provided community members with access to professional-level artistic programming and helped inspire young and emerging African American artists. These activities directly supported the organizations mission to present the best of Black folk and promote cultural appreciation through the performing arts.
$254,942 spent$54,612 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $254,942.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 $712 to $8k (+990%).
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: 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of Songs of Black Folk’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 2 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
Leslie Braxton
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of Songs of Black Folk’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
Songs of Black Folk leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
“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
100% of Songs of Black Folk's grant income comes from Washington funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
Songs of Black Folk 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
Organizations like Songs of Black Folk
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Songs of Black Folk: 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 Songs of Black Folk?
- Songs of Black Folk (Washington) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,000 to it, the largest being REAL PROGRESS FOUNDATION ($10,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Songs of Black Folk have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $15,000 in grants to Songs of Black Folk.
- Who is the largest funder of Songs of Black Folk?
- REAL PROGRESS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Songs of Black Folk 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 2 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