California · Nonprofit
VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS
VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $242,876 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($139,607). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $243k
- Net assets
- $5.3M
What Vanguard Music and Performing Arts does
Mission
Vanguard Music and Performing Arts educates and inspires young people through world-class programs and grassroots initiatives that create artistic excellence, personal growth, and foster a lifelong love of the performing arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The santa clara vanguard drum & bugle corps is a world-renowned, world champion drum and bugle corps that travels between six and eight weeks during the summer months throughout the united states in competitive field shows and parades. Vanguard provides instruction for experienced through advanced members in the areas of brass, percussion, and color guard. Membership is primarily open to those between the ages of 18 and 21. Santa clara vanguard offers performing arts students once-in-a-lifetime experiences where students develop lifelong skills in the areas of leadership, personal development, and community-building. Graduates of the santa clara vanguard go on to become leaders in all industries in the world.
$1,764,832 spent$2,348,312 earned by the program45% of program spendingOther program services include membership fees, parades and contest, tickets, sale of merchandise and other revenue reported on form 990, part viii, lines 2 - 11, column b.
$1,282,924 spent$4,789,278 earned by the program33% of program spendingGrants money to vmapa texas affiliate for payroll and payroll related expenses
$836,011 spentof which $836,011 as grants22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,883,767.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.9M to $2.4M (−51%).
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 10% · 2023 23% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
7% of VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Russell Gavin
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $44k → $32k.
3 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS’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
VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
74% 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 VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 75% · 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 96% · 2022 71% · 2023 74% — 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
29% of VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
69% of VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $76k that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from funders outside California, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $167k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.
- Department of Defense$25k
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 VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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
- Vmapa Texas Affiliate · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS: 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 VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS?
- VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $242,876 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($139,607). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $242,876 in grants to VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $139,607 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like VANGUARD MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 9 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