Musicians Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201799730
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3104356798
Rating
95
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$35,625
Expenses
$167,584
Assets
$344,900
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BETH MARLIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

People named in this filing

  • ANDREA BARI (DIRECTOR)
  • DAN KIMPEL (DIRECTOR)
  • ANIKA PARIS (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

Charitable

What it reported doing in 2025

The Musicians Foundation is primarily dedicated to providing scholarship grants to talented and/or financially challenged students at Musicians Institute (MI) College of Contemporary Music in order to help them achieve their educational goals. Since 2004, Musicians Foundation has awarded over $1.2 million dollars in scholarship grants to more than 500 deserving music students in the Los Angeles area who exhibit talent and/or are financially challenged to help them achieve their educational goals at the college level.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 98% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

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

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: -370.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.06; rating input score 66; 66th 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: 69.1% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.9% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $168K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 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.

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: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is not authorized to operate as a charity in California.