Music Box Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263042670
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7735807445
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Reported finances

Revenue
$199,326
Expenses
$167,420
Assets
$51,089
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • VERNON LLOYD SR (CEO)

People named in this filing

  • VERNON LLOYD SR (CEO)
  • WARLETTA BROOKINS (DIRECTOR)
  • DR SHERRY HAYNES (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

Music Box Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to crafting programs that provide students with valuable opportunities to receive training in music and the arts. Our programs provide instrumental instruction,

What it reported doing in 2025

Our program has instructed hundreds of students inmusic.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

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

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 38%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 33.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $167K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.