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REFUGEE CHOIR PROJECT

EIN 82-2515143 TACOMA, WA

Browse the largest nonprofits in Washington

Revenue 2024
$327,706
Expenses 2024
$353,014

Program services were 70.2% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
A6B
Classification
1000
Street
PO BOX 2321

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

Creating spaces for authentic expression, interconnection, and healing through song and music

  • Creating space for authentic expression: The Tacoma Refugee Choir (TRC) fosters authentic expression through 35 weekly choir rehearsals in 2024, creating space for honest conversations where people bring their unique gifts and perspectives. Members learn that their voice and stories matter, messages they otherwise hear too seldom. In this supportive environment, members regularly led warm-ups, taught songs they wrote, shared artistic talents including cello performances, and presented personal stories and poems. It was a prolific year for TRC originals with five new songs created, and multiple members sharing shongs from their countries of origin. This cultivation of authentic expression has transformed members confidence both within and beyond the the Choir, with a least nine members crediting this support as instrumental in taking first steps into community leadership, including representing Washington at the National Refugee Congress and serving on Tacomas Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

    Expenses $197,511 · Grants $233,246

  • Interconnection and Community Building: TRC events demonstrate the power of interconnection and community building across diverse populations. In 2024, our spring Good Things Happen concert united 300 people through performances featuring Congolese singer Providence Kamana, Venezuelan ensemble Tumbarrancho Gaitero, Egyptian tabla player George Sadak, and Mayor Woodards conducting alongside Choir members. The South Tacoma Sings concert brought together over 100 voices from three Tacoma public schools and TRC members on one stage, building intergenerational connections. We held nine Community Nights across different Tacoma neighborhoods, deliberately rotating locations to make programming accessible and foster connections among people who cant commit to regual rehearsals. These gatherings united participants through gospel, Brazilian, Flamenco, and Filipino music traditions, creating bridges between cultures. Audience members consistently reported feeling the warmth, joy, and sense of interconnection displayed by people from around the world working together.

    Expenses $48,456 · Grants $84,460 · Revenue $8,260

  • Healing Through the Arts: TRC provides healing through the arts by creating opportunities for emotional support, creative expression, and meaningful connection. The emotional and practical support members shared at weekly rehearsals, combined with the act of singing each others songs together, has helped many find their voice and heal. Members have credited successes in their personal lives--including job promotions and business expansion--to the higher confidence they feel through TRC participation. Our School Residence Program and workshops for students brought healing and fulfillment to young people with one Mount Tahoma teacher sharing my students felt fulfilled and students saying the experience made choir cool again. A graduating senior expressed feeling like a real musician for the first time. These artistic experiences created safe spaces for processing emotions, building confidence, and experiencing the joy and hope that comes from creative community engagement.

    Expenses $1,778 · Grants $10,000

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Erin Galeno

    Board Chair

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Amy Leonard

    Secretary

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Melinda Huish

    Treasurer

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Eula Ramroop

    Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Bhagirath Bhatt

    Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Maricres Valdez Castro

    Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • Dalia Ibrahim

    Member

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • John W Lotts

    Executive Director

    Total calculated
    $11,900
    From this org
    $11,900
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    20

  • Erin Guinup

    Executive Director

    Total calculated
    $94,274
    From this org
    $94,274
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $327,706
    Expenses
    $353,014
    Contributions
    $319,446
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $433,685
    Expenses
    $477,198
    Contributions
    $425,101
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $475,168
    Expenses
    $407,203
    Contributions
    $454,807
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $359,152
    Expenses
    $356,534
    Assets (EOY)
    $108,068

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $323,216
    Expenses
    $236,355
    Assets (EOY)
    $104,316

  • 2019 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $112,308
    Expenses
    $119,765
    Assets (EOY)
    $15,135

  • 2017 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $10,707
    Expenses
    $3,188
    Assets (EOY)
    $7,519

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 11 November 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 9 November 2026 and read 9 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.