Ohio · Nonprofit
THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT
THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT (Ohio) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,887,971 to it, the largest being MARGARET R GRIFFITHS TRUST ($1,756,141). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.6M
- Funders on record
- 76
- Grants received
- $8.9M
- Net assets
- $25M
What The Cleveland Music School Settlement does
Mission
To welcome all to our music and arts community to learn, create, celebrate and heal.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The mission of the music settlement's center for early childhood is to provide high quality early childhood experiences for children ages 3 weeks to 6 years of age. Educational programs at university circle and ohio city locations offer state accredited and gold award rated preschool, day school, and kindergarten courses to children 3-6 years. These programs nurture the individual, support the family and enhance a child's social, emotional and academic development through involvement with creative arts. This has been an important part of the music settlement for over 65 years and we have earned a reputation for excellence in all aspects of early childhood education.
$1,988,887 spentof which $35,922 as grants$1,103,430 earned by the program40% of program spendingEstablished in 1966, the music settlement's center for music therapy has been a pioneer in helping people with disabilities and/or medical issues. The mission of the center is to creatively use music as a therapeutic tool for meeting the challenges and needs and promoting the well-being of those in our communities. The center employs state of ohio licensed (lpmt) and board-certified music therapists (mt-bc's) who conduct individual or group music therapy sessions at our university circle and ohio city campuses and at numerous educational, medical, social service and recreational agencies in the cleveland metropolitan area. The program description continues on schedule o. Our mt-bc's systematically and prescriptively use music-based interventions to positively impact the lives of children and adults facing a wide range of life's challenges. In fy25 we served 931 individuals with a variety of diagnoses and needs at our two campuses and with 6 organizations at 6 locations.
$573,280 spentof which $53,418 as grants$296,131 earned by the program12% of program spendingThe music settlement's center for music provides music instruction, classes, and ensembles to students of all ages from around the greater cleveland area. In keeping with our mission, students of all backgrounds are admitted without audition, and the center awards financial aid and scholarships to ensure that ability to pay is not a barrier to musical study. The center for music has several outreach partners for off-site music instruction. Nationally, we have collaborated with the berklee college of music as part of their city music network. The music settlement students, enrolled in the jazz at the music settlement (jams) program, vie to become annual recipients of a full scholarship to berklee's 5 week summer performance program.
$2,408,936 spentof which $178,182 as grants$1,830,032 earned by the program48% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,971,103.
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 $22M to $26M (+18%).
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 7% · 2018 5% · 2019 8% · 2020 17% · 2021 26% · 2022 22% · 2023 15% · 2024 8% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
57% of THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Geralyn M Presti
President & CEO
Board chair
Christopher Brandt Md
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $376k → $1.3M.
12 of 76 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 76 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
THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
52% 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 THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 52% · 2019 35% · 2020 65% · 2021 31% · 2022 27% · 2023 32% — 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
54% of THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
98% of THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Tms West · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT: 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 THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT?
- THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT (Ohio) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,887,971 to it, the largest being MARGARET R GRIFFITHS TRUST ($1,756,141). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT have?
- IRS filings report 76 organizations giving $8,887,971 in grants to THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT, 51 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT?
- MARGARET R GRIFFITHS TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,756,141 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 76 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