Illinois · Nonprofit
WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY
WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $21 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($21). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $49k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $21
- Net assets
- $10k
What Windy City Blues Society does
Mission
Cultural / Historical musical performing arts
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Willow Springs Blues Festival, FREE of charge, July 27th Willow Springs, IL. our 3rd year, 1 day festival, 1 stage, featuring national and local blues music talent, roughly 2,500 in attendance, Created awareness of blues music art form, Cultural and historical significance, hired 40 musicians, performances all recorded on film and audio. We bring together a diverse cross section of the community. The festivals foster community development and provide guests with a sense of connection and a shared emotional experience.
$29,493 spent68% of program spendingChicago Blues Fest (Early June) Festival vendor, spread the news about the blues to over 100,000 attendees. Sign up approx 100 members, sold approx $15,000 in merchandise. Primarily an opportunity to raise funds through merchandise and membership sales. Create awareness about our programs.
$8,167 spent19% of program spendingChicago Blues Challenge, a timed & judged battle of the Blues bands. 3 divisions; Youth, Band, Solo/Duet. Winning acts move on to the International Blues Challenge (presented by The Blues Foundation) in Memphis TN. 7 musical participated, had over 250 in attendance Grants awarded to each division winner.
$4,186 spentof which $2,850 as grants10% of program spendingsponsoring a stage at the King Biscuit Blues Fest, in Helena Arkansas, one of the most poverty stricken areas of America. The stage is called the "Quicksand / Buskers Stage" The musicians play for tips. The Blues Society raised $1,500 to pay the musicians some money and help with the operational costs of the stage. For many "up & coming" musicians, playing the King Biscuit is a dream come true, this stage may be their only opportunity to play the festival.
$1,500 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $43,346.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 $8k to $10k (+38%).
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.
64% of WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
David J Madlener
President / Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $5 → $16.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY’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.
Where its funders are
100% of WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $21 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY: 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 WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY?
- WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $21 to it, the largest being AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION ($21). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $21 in grants to WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY?
- AMAZONSMILE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $21 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WINDY CITY BLUES SOCIETY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Windy City Blues Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 1 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