Grants for symphony orchestras

Name: Top 25 grants made to symphony orchestras
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

830 symphony orchestras received at least $141.5 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 1,926 grants made from 1,417 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $2,000. Of these 1,417 foundations, 85% made just a single grant to orchestras, and 2% made grants to four or more orchestras. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$141,491,009

Total grant dollars given to symphony orchestras

1,926

Number of grants made annually to symphony orchestras

1,417

Number of grantmakers funding symphony orchestras

$2,000

Median grant size to symphony orchestras

Foundations that support symphony orchestras

Out of all grants made to symphony orchestras, 80% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 96% of the dollar-value of grants to orchestras. Foundations funding orchestras also made grants to music festivals and events, universities, arts education nonprofits, art museums, and theaters.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	1,134
Medium	151
Large	132

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	40
Private	1,251
Corporate	62
Other	64

Grants made

Grants made to orchestras	Number of grantmakers
1	1,216
2-3	172
4-10	19
11+	10

Top 10 foundations supporting symphony orchestras

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to orchestras	Number of grants made to orchestras	Median grant size
Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT)	TN	Metro	0.1%	35	$1,500
Seattle Foundation	WA	State	0.0%	30	$1,755
The Rhode Island Foundation	RI	Metro	0.1%	28	$1,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.1%	24	$1,250
D'addario Foundation	NY	National	10.8%	23	$2,214
Shell Oil Company Foundation	TX	National	0.1%	19	$1,000
JP Morgan Chase Foundation	NY	National	0.0%	18	$450
Baird Foundation	WI	National	0.5%	13	$1,000
The Columbus Foundation	OH	State	0.0%	11	$5,000
Hampton Roads Community Foundation	VA	Metro	0.1%	11	$1,100

See all grantmaking to symphony orchestras

Symphony orchestras grantees

Symphony orchestras with more than $5 million in total revenues received 98% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 38% of all orchestras.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	1,911
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	15

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,275
$100k-$500k	$2,000
$500k-$1M	$2,500
$1M-$5M	$2,000
>$5M	$2,500

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
California	211
New York	176
Illinois	135
Texas	116
Other	1,288

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
New York City	142
Chicago	128
Los Angeles	76
Boston	67
Other	1,418

Top 25 grants made to symphony orchestras

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Philadelphia Orchestra Association	$55,000,000	Arts & Culture	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Houston Symphony Society	$13,040,452	Loan Garantee	Houston Symphony Endowment
San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association	$10,233,865	General	Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
Omaha Symphony Association	$8,422,465	Operating	The Holland Foundation
Indiana Symphony Society	$7,771,927	To Fund Operating Expenses, Rent, Education, and Artistic Endeavors.	Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Foundation
Indiana Symphony Society	$7,771,927	FMV	Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Foundation
Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO)	$6,992,757	Operations, Support	Dallas Symphony Foundation
Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LAP)	$4,101,966	Arts	California Community Foundation
Houston Symphony Society	$3,802,023	Cash	Houston Symphony Endowment
Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LAP)	$3,589,540	General Support	Music Center Foundation
Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO)	$3,500,000	Special Distribution of Principal Under Sect 3.3 of the Endowment Agreement	Dallas Symphony Foundation
Kansas City Symphony	$3,363,570	Arts, Culture & Humanities	Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
Houston Symphony Society	$3,362,023	Support Ongoing Operations	Houston Symphony Endowment
San Diego Symphony Orchestra Association	$3,331,296	For General Support	The San Diego Foundation
San Francisco Symphony (SFS)	$2,675,700	Arts & Culture	Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
Lima Symphony Orchestra Association	$5,000	Community Development	Lima Memorial Health System / Lima Memorial Joint Operating Company
Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia	$5,000	General Operations	Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
Youth Orchestras of Charlotte	$5,000	General Support	Martha and Spencer Love FDTN
Hartford Symphony Orchestra (HSO)	$5,000	Annual Fund	Rhoda and David Chase Family Foundation
Hartford Symphony Orchestra (HSO)	$5,000	Annual Fund	Cheryl Chase and Stuart Bear Family Foundation
Richmond Symphony	$5,000	General Support	Commonwealth Foundations
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO)	$5,000	Fundrasing Event To Provide Assistance To Other Local Charities.	Peter G Humphrey Sally L Humphrey and Christopher G Humphrey Foundation
Ravinia Festival Association	$5,000	Unrestricted	Sanborn Family Foundation
Midwest Young Artists	$5,000	General Support	Highland Park Community Foundation
Youth Orchestra of Greater Columbus	$5,000	General Donation	GB and Ca Saunders Foundation

See all grants to symphony orchestras

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Symphony orchestras" category for this page is determined by the "A69: Symphony Orchestras" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.