Grantmakers › District of Columbia

Chorus America

Washington, DC · EIN 23-2062595. Reported 76 grants totalling $1,740,500 to 33 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

33organizations funded
$22,500median reported grant
$1,740,500granted, 2021-2024
95%of grantees funded again the next year
6%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Chorus America, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A99) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 33 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 95% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $22,500. Half of what it reported fell between $20,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$10,000 - $25,000
44 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
32 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Bi-National Arts InstituteNaco, AZ$100,000442024
Border CrossingSaint Paul, MN$97,500442024
Compas IncSaint Paul, MN$97,500442024
Phoenix Boys Choir AssociationPhoenix, AZ$95,000442024
Surry Arts CouncilMount Airy, NC$95,000442024
VocalessenceMinneapolis, MN$95,000442024
Leaf Community ArtsBlack Mtn, NC$76,000332023
Seattle Pro MusicaSeattle, WA$76,000332023
Bluefield Arts and Revitalization CorporationBluefield, WV$75,000332023
Davis & Elkins CollegeElkins, WV$75,000332023
Grand Vision FoundationSan Pedro, CA$75,000332023
Macon County SchoolFranklin, NC$75,000332023
Tucson Girls Chorus AssociationTucson, AZ$75,000332023
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music IncMilwaukee, WI$75,000332023
Voices in the Laurel IncLk Junaluska, NC$65,000442024
Pacific Youth ChoirPortland, OR$56,000332023
Desert Sounds Performing Arts IncMesa, AZ$55,000332023
Vox Femina Los AngelesCulver City, CA$50,000332023
Oceanside Unified School DistrictOceanside, CA$30,000112021
August Heritage Center IncElkins, WV$25,000112024
CommusicationSaint Paul, MN$25,000112024
Abq Coro LuxAlbuquerque, NM$22,500112024
Lincoln Memorial UniversityHarrogate, TN$22,500112024
Montgomery County Council for the Arts IncMt Sterling, KY$22,500112024
Refugee Choir ProjectTacoma, WA$22,500112024
Sns ChoirsLancaster, CA$22,500112024
La Crosse Chamber Chorale IncLa Crosse, WI$20,000112024
Los Angeles Master Chorale AssnLos Angeles, CA$20,000112024
Mountain Empire Childrens Choral AcademyBristol, TN$20,000112024
Phoenix Childrens Chorus IncPhoenix, AZ$20,000112024
Quintessence Choral Artists of the SouthwestAlbuquerque, NM$20,000112024
San Diego Childrens ChoirSan Diego, CA$20,000112024
The Harmony ProjectLos Angeles, CA$20,000112024

18 of 33 (55%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 24 of 33 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Arts & Culture
19 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202119$525,000$30,000
202218$330,000$20,000
202318$433,000$25,000
202421$452,500$20,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

20% of its giving went to organizations in Arizona. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Arizona
$345K
Minnesota
$315K
North Carolina
$311K
California
$238K
West Virginia
$175K
Washington
$98K
Wisconsin
$95K
Oregon
$56K

Down to the city

Saint Paul, MN
$220K
Phoenix, AZ
$115K
Naco, AZ
$100K
Elkins, WV
$100K
Mount Airy, NC
$95K
Minneapolis, MN
$95K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc14 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc12 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America6 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program6 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc5 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $22,500 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Arizona.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in North CarolinaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Chorus America's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 650 Massachusetts Ave Nw 600, Washington, DC, 20001.

EIN 23-2062595 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.