Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in May 1994.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
75 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
Something off? Claim to add context
Who runs it and what they're paid
22 people listed on the 990; $110K paid to officers and key staff.
Melanie Doerner’s $110K as Executive Director is at the 92nd percentile of top reported officer pay among 2216 $100K–1M arts & culture nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 2 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie Doerner | $110,310 | $94,750 | $93,960 | $72,500 | $31,661 | — |
| Dennis De Jong | — | — | — | — | $64,961 | $83,053 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
See Community Music School executive salaries →Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Provides affordable, quality music education to enrich children from low-income families.
Questions for Community Music School
Your first name shows with your question. Community Music School answers here, for everyone.
Conducted private music lessons for at-risk youth from professional musicians. Provided musical instruments for students' use. Gave students the opportunity to perform publicly in school recitals. Gave students low-cost opportunities to attend concerts produced by music organizations in the area.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $438K | $335K |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $35K | $26K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $490K | $413K |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $36K | $40K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $454K | $372K |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $4K | $4K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $110K | $88K | $11K | $11K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $385K | $305K | $80K | |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $40K | $31K | $882 | $7K |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $14K | $14K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $4K | $2K | $2K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $11K | $7K | $2K | $1K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $7K | $2K | $2K | $4K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $31K | $31K | ||
| TravelLn 17 | $1K | $927 | $71 | $14 |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $8K | $8K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $6K | $6K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $37K | $12K | $4K | $20K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $3K | $1K | $1K | |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $660K | $493K | $40K | $126K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest ViewingFiled with the IRS Feb 10, 2026 | $579K | $660K | −$81K | $372K | 990 PDF |
| FY2024Filed with the IRS Feb 10, 2025 | $551K | $604K | −$53K | $454K | 990 PDF |
| FY2023Filed with the IRS Feb 2, 2024 | $530K | $539K | −$9K | $507K | 990 PDF |
| FY2022Filed with the IRS Jan 31, 2023 | $549K | $403K | $146K | $516K | 990 PDF |
| FY2021Filed with the IRS Nov 15, 2021 | $436K | $374K | $62K | $369K | 990 PDF |
| FY2020Filed with the IRS Jan 28, 2021 | $441K | $287K | $154K | $307K | 990 PDF |
Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $578,579 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 20 of 20 board members independent, 2 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $578,579 across 6 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $659,684 across 14 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $412,575 assets, 10 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $372,441 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
Similar organizations you could support · Compare with another nonprofit
Names, privacy, and removal requests More
The names, titles, and compensation shown on this page are reproduced from IRS Form 990 filings, which are public records.
Philanthropy.org does not alter the content of those filings. All information appears exactly as reported by the filing organization for the tax year shown.
We publish only information contained in the public IRS filing — and less than the filing contains. Our profile pages do not display street addresses, telephone numbers, personal email addresses, or other personal contact information, even where the filing includes them.
Many people share the same name. A name shown on this page reflects only what one organization reported in one IRS filing for one tax year. It should not be interpreted as identifying any other individual with the same or a similar name.
If you are no longer affiliated with the organization, your name will generally stop appearing in future IRS filings once the organization no longer reports you. Pages for tax years in which you were reported remain published because those filings remain part of the public record.
Philanthropy.org does not alter or remove IRS filing records. Removing a page from this website would not remove the underlying IRS filing, which remains publicly available from the IRS and other publishers of the same information.
If you believe the IRS filing itself is inaccurate, corrections must be made by the filing organization or the IRS directly.