New York · Nonprofit
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC (New York) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,221,792 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,700,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $6.2M
- Net assets
- $4.3M
What American Composers Orchestra Inc does
Mission
Performance, presentation, commissioning, recording and dissemination of american music for symphony orchestra; professional development for american composers; and education activities about american music for students and the general public.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Concert performances featuring american composersaco's 24-25 season featuring its ensemble included two concerts carnegie hall's zankel hall, two performances at brooklyn academy of music, and earshot readings with aco in nyc at manhattan school of music. Aco served 5,238 audience members through live performances. Digital events are accessible on aco's youtube page, which garnered 12.2k views in the past year. Aco also released the premiere recording of an american soldier, the first of 10 commercial projects with platoon, apple's in-house recording label.
$1,271,078 spent$161,699 earned by the program78% of program spendingEarshot: opportunities for emerging composers american composers orchestra's earshot composer advancement initiatives form the first ongoing, systematic program for developing relationships between composers and orchestras on the national level. Through orchestral readings, colaboratory residencies, consortium commissions, concerts, recordings, and professional development, earshot ensures a vibrant musical future by investing in creativity today. Aco produced eight virtual professional development webinars on topics including networking, self-publishing, commissioning agreements and consortia, orchestration, fundraising, public speaking, and more, serving 800 individuals. Aco's earshot readings served 22 featured artists via its own june readings in nyc, and four others in partnership with symphony orchestras in texas, illinois, indiana, and ohio. Colaboratory residencies provided commissions and workshops to 8 artists creating five works. Eight composers had works published in partnership with boosey & hawkes. In 2024-25, earshot served 51 artists who self-identify as 76% bipoc and 51% female or nonbinary.
$227,848 spent$179,773 earned by the program14% of program spendingMusic education program in the 2024-25 season, aco served 1,508 nycps middle and high school students (309 direct, 1,199 indirect) through 9 in-school and after-school classes. Sequential programs included sonic spark ensembles, middle and high school direct instrumental and voice instruction; compose yourself, high school composition classes; sonic spark lab, middle and high school composition and creativity classes. Programs included weekly school-based classes and project-based creative capacity building led by teaching artists, and direct music composition instruction with aco's education director. Of those students enrolled in sonic spark, 20% are students with disabilities, 19% are english language learners, 73% receive free or subsidized school meals, and 86% are bipoc/alaana.
$123,391 spent$107,087 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,622,317.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $3.3M to $4.4M (+34%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 12% · 2018 5% · 2019 9% · 2020 12% · 2021 9% · 2022 19% · 2023 13% · 2024 5% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Melissa Ngan
President & CEO
Board chair
Sameera Troesch
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $166k → $634k.
12 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 50% · 2019 17% · 2020 15% · 2021 56% · 2022 23% · 2023 16% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
48% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
73% of AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $635k arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC is better cushioned than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $160k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$160k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC?
- AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC (New York) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,221,792 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,700,000). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $6,221,792 in grants to AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,700,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds American Composers Orchestra →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 55 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing