Cascade Blues Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 930951469
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2025
- Location
- Portland, OR, USA
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Music
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $53,947
- Expenses
- $37,582
- Assets
- $67,173
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sandy Gilman (Vice President & Interim President)
- Timmer Blakely (Outgoing President)
People named in this filing
- Sandy Gilman (Vice President & Interim President)
- Mike Day (Treasurer)
- Evelyn Silverman (Membership)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Cascade Blues Association is a non-profit organization committed to the promotion and preservation of all varieties of blues.
What it reported doing in 2025
Promotes & sponsors/co-sponsors blues events, ie: Blues in the Schools, College Scholarships, Musician Fund Relief, Muddy Awards to recognize local, regional & national artists, Waterfront Blues Festival, and the Journey to Memphis competition.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 65.2%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 30.3%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.79; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 65.2% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $35K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.