Free Guitars 4 Kids

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843584931
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
St Louis Park, MN, USA
Phone
2547237691
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$712,597
Expenses
$708,883
Assets
$166,708
Liabilities
$10,155

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ben Dudley (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ben Dudley (Executive Director): $129,027 total reported compensation
  • Terrence Esau (Secretary): $25,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

FG4K provides free guitars to students who might otherwise be unable to experience the joy and tangible benefits that owning a musical instrument provides.

What it reported doing in 2025

At Free Guitars 4 Kids FG4K our mission is to transform the lives of kids in underserved communities through the gift of a guitar. We firmly believe in the transformative power of music striving to ensure every child has the opportunity to play compose or perform songs. We pride ourselves on our cost-effective approach to delivering musical instruments. By leveraging existing mentorship organizations schools and afterschool partners nationwide we efficiently distribute guitars to children in need.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.5%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 59.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 37.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.5% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $623K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.