Colorado · Nonprofit
THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC
THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC (Colorado) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,046,164 to it, the largest being Ferguson Family Foundation ($135,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $706k
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $275k
What The Vail Jazz Foundation Inc does
Mission
To perpetuate jazz music through the presentation of jazz performances and educational programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The vail jazz festival features a jam-packed lineup with several headliners that join together to play in group performances, multi-artist jam sessions, and inspiring multimedia tributes to jazz legends. Located at the manor vail lodge, facing vail mountain, the vail jazz festival has cemented its reputation as the premier labor day weekend event.
$361,238 spent$110,673 earned by the program79% of program spendingThe vail jazz workshop is among pre-college musicians' most coveted music scholarships. Each year, a dozen of north america's most dedicated, gifted, and promising young jazz musicians are chosen from a broad field of talented applicants to participate in the 9-day vail jazz workshop in vail, colorado. In conjunction with the vail jazz festival, this highly- regarded summer program enters its 30th year, mentoring over 300 high school-aged musicians since its inception. The vj workshop provides a unique learning environment for student musicians.
$51,440 spent$34,832 earned by the program11% of program spendingVail jazz goes to school: vail jazz goes to school has brought jazz education to 4th and 5th graders across eagle county for the past 29 years. Taught by top jazz musicians and educators in the vail valley, the program is anchored in the idea that memories are made by embracing the energy of in-person performance: living in that moment, environment, and atmosphere.
$43,107 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $455,785.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $1.1M to $460k (−58%).
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: 2021 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC’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 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 14 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $101k → $109k.
13 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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 VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
49% 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 VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 45% · 2019 20% · 2020 26% · 2021 16% · 2022 16% · 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
38% of THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $518k 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
THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like THE VAIL JAZZ 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
53% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 THE VAIL JAZZ 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 THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC?
- THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC (Colorado) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,046,164 to it, the largest being Ferguson Family Foundation ($135,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $1,046,164 in grants to THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC?
- Ferguson Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $135,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Vail Jazz →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 43 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