Crossing Borders Music Collective

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454368130
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Skokie, IL, USA
Phone
3124889910
Rating
46
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$134,312
Expenses
$158,723
Assets
$36,831
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Curtis Smith (Past-President)
  • Casandra Holliday (President)
  • Marschnee Strong (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Curtis Smith (Past-President)
  • Michael King (Secretary)
  • Mi Ran Choi (Director)

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

Crossing Borders Music is a multicultural organization of color that shares the stories and music of those whose voices are suppressed because of race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, other identity, or related trauma. We do this through free, accessible programs in community spaces in service and affirmation of our communities and collaborators. The mission of Crossing Borders Music is to use music to promote the dignity of people from all cultures.

What it reported doing in 2025

In FY 26, Crossing Borders Music reached over 7,000 people in at least 60 concerts and in-school performances in the Chicago area and traveled to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York. Artistic leadership is now shared between the four core ensemble members. For our fourth year, new and returning students from Chicago's West Side took part in CBM's Young Composers Project, spending 10 weeks creating and getting to see their first works performed by professional ensemble. New works were commissioned this season in celebration of America's 250th, and we continue to share music by long-time collaborators in Cambodian, Haitian, Rohingya, Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 20
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 21.4%; rating input score 21
  • Program expense ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 18

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 67.4%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.4% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 21.4% of revenue deployed · 18.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $29K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.