RANCHO ALEGRE RADIO
Preserving and Promoting Conjunto Music
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RANCHO ALEGRE RADIO
EIN: 46-3595637
Mission
Rancho Alegre's mission is to preserve and promote Conjunto music, an accordion-driven roots music genre born in south Texas, popular among Mexican-Americans for generations. Its projects include a podcast, a nonprofit record label, digitizing recordings, artist interviews, documenting Tejano and Conjunto music, speaking to schools and universities about Conjunto, helping artists with business resources, and presenting the Rancho Alegre Conjunto Music Festival (RACMF) and other public events throughout the year.
Ruling year
2014
Executive Director
Mr. Baldomero Cuellar
Main address
5304 Blue Bluff Rd
Austin, TX 78724 USA
EIN
46-3595637
Arts and culture
Communication media
Population served
People of Latin American descent
Adults
NTEE code
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose (A20)
Music (A68)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.
Tax forms
Communication
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reportsWhat we aim to solve
Rancho Alegre Radio saw a need to preserve and promote Tejano and Conjunto music in a variety of areas. 1) Lack of documentation - addressing this issue by recording oral histories with artists. 2) Lack of presence in Austin - addressing this issue by presenting live music events and raising the profile of Conjunto music in the various corners of the Austin music scene. 3) Disappearing recordings - addressing this issue by digitally converting analog media. 4) Lack of professional development for artists - addressing this issue by presenting training events online and connecting artists with legal and business resources they need to be successful.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival
Multi-day, family-friendly music festival showcasing a variety of Tejano-Conjunto performers from legends, veterans and up-and-coming groups.
Oral histories
Since 2011, Rancho Alegre Radio has travelled all over the state of Texas recording oral histories and interviews with artists in an effort to construct a historical record for an underdocumented genre
Live Music Events
Periodically, Rancho Alegre Radio will present a series of or a single live music event showcasing Tejano or Conjunto talent.
Analog music conversion
Since 2011, before incorporating as a nonprofit organization, Rancho Alegre Radio has been working to preserve analog recordings of Tejano and Conjunto music, as many of those recordings were never converted to digital by the record companies. Without digital conversion, these recordings are lost
Professional Development for musicians
Rancho Alegre Radio recognized the need for professional development for Tejano and Conjunto musicians, so we offer training events online and connect musicians with legal and business resources they need.
Where we work
Awards
Creator Award 2017
WeWork
Affiliations & memberships
Latin Recording Academy membership - Baldomero Cuellar 2022
Recording Academy membership - Baldomero Cuellar 2022
Latin Recording Academy membership - Piper LeMoine 2021
Recording Academy membership - Piper LeMoine 2021
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total number of paid admissions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Live Music Events
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of people who paid cover charges for our Tardeada series at One-2-One Bar and our Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival during FY 2014.
Total number of works restored or preserved
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Analog music conversion
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of pre-recorded hours of broadcast
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Oral histories
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Oral histories and interviews with legendary, up and coming and veteran Tejano and Conjunto musicians.
Total number of free admissions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of people who attended the Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival. In 2020 and 2021, we did not present the festival due to COVID.
Total number of free performances given
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Live Music Events
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of new grants received
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Live Music Events
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Grant funding typically received through City of Austin Cultural Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Texas Music Office.
Number of public events held to further mission
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Live Music Events
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of public events, regardless of cover charge.
Average dollar price for performance tickets
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Live Music Events
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Admission to the Rancho Alegre Conjunto Music Festival is free. Admission was charged for the Tardeada series (2017-2019).
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Rancho Alegre Radio seeks to advocate for Conjunto music and its musicians and fans whenever possible, appropriate and needed.
We strive to raise the visibility of the genres in all discussions and examinations of roots music, Americana and especially Texas music in a variety of media and events.
We seek to construct a historical record of Tejano and Conjunto music through oral histories with artists and also through preservation of analog recordings and their cover art and liner notes.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Rancho Alegre has an aggressive outreach strategy that includes a significant amount of public relations, social media and online engagement, and examination of events, initiatives and areas where Tejano or Conjunto music may not be present, but should be.
We seek to present well-curated, organized, professional, culturally-accurate events that appeal to all music fans and the traditional audience.
For oral histories and recording preservation, we seek out those that are most in danger of being lost first. For example, we begin with older artists that may or may not have ever been interviewed but are very established and influential, or by converting a very rare vinyl record that we have the only copy of.
Rancho Alegre has also developed an aggressive fundraising program aimed at grants and in-kind giving rather than individual giving, to support its programs.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Rancho Alegre is a team of extraordinarily committed volunteers with extensive experience in areas from event production, sound engineering, public relations, and fundraising.
We have been successful with grant proposals and were awarded a WeWork Creator Award in June 2017 for our work.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have been very successful with the Rancho Alegre Conjunto Festival since 2012, as well as recording interviews with dozens of artists, some of whom have died since our interview, making our recording of them even more precious. One day our interviews and work will be given to a university for curation and cataloging and further preservation.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback
Financials
Revenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Financial data
RANCHO ALEGRE RADIO
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Oct 01 - Sep 30
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Executive Director
Mr. Baldomero Cuellar
A native of East Austin, Frank Cuellar grew up listening to the music that his parents and family loved. At any given time, he would hear the songs of classic Conjunto performers like Tony De La Rosa, Ruben Naranjo, and Ruben Vela, or Orquesta greats like Freddie Martinez and Augustin Ramirez, or the Spanish Country of Country Roland Garcia.
As a professional DJ for nearly two decades, music has always been a big part of Cuellar’s life and even helped save it when his health declined at a relatively young age. After suffering six strokes at once in 2010 and struggling with severe vision loss shortly thereafter, music comforted him during his recovery.
After becoming disabled, Frank drew on his love for music and founded Rancho Alegre. His ideas and projects for RAR are unique in the Tejano and Conjunto world: whether it's traveling all over Texas to record audio interviews with artists, maintaining an online database of his extensive catalog full of rare recordings for reference, or
RANCHO ALEGRE RADIO
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
RANCHO ALEGRE RADIO
Board of directorsas of 08/18/2024
Board of directors data
Mr Oscar Martinez
Compadresmusic
Term: 2014 -
Stephanie Hollanders
Kristi Keene
Joe Olvera
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/21/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
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- Letter of Determination
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- Board of Directors data for 2024
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