Guitars Not Guns
Legal name: Guitars Not Guns Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 912069334
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Milliken, CO, USA
- Phone
- 770-861-2442
- Rating
- 92
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $86,261
- Expenses
- $176,793
- Assets
- $123,924
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
People named in this filing
- DONNA HAMMOND (CHAIRMAN)
- LOUIS NELSON (TREASURER)
- RICHARD SALAZAR (RECORDING SE)
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
We provide guitars and lessons to foster children and at-risk youth in a classroom setting with qualified teachers as an alternative to violence.
What it reported doing in 2025
Provide guitars and lessons to foster kids, at risk youth and other deserving children in a classrom setting with qualified teachers in an effort to stop violence in the children.
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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 98
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 93.9%; 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: -105%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $166K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.