New York · Nonprofit
AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS
AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS (New York) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,295,949 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($5,200,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.3M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $9.1M
What American Symphony Orchestra League D/B/A League of American Orchestras does
Mission
To advance the experience of orchestral music, support the people and organizations that create it, and champion the contributions they make to the health and vibrancy of communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Learning and leadership development: the league delivers a range of online and in-person learning opportunities, including seminars and webinars, constituency meetings, mentoring programs, and cohort-based programs. It also operates grant-making programs that support organizational learning in innovation and in equity, diversity, and inclusion. Through these programs, orchestra staff, board members, musicians, and volunteers can acquire skills, knowledge, and networks that are vital to their leadership in the field. The annual national conference and mid winter managers meeting offer additional opportunities for networking and professional development, while providing a forum to discuss emerging issues and trends, exchange ideas, and model possible responses to field-wide challenges and opportunities.
$2,196,304 spent$485,733 earned by the program48% of program spendingMember services: the league provides some 2,000 members with extensive information about the field, including trends, open positions, new appointments, and the many other activities of the nation's orchestras. Services to members include specialized guidance on operations, artistic, and community engagement topics that support the capacity of orchestras to deliver on mission. Members are invited to participate in an online community, a confidential space where they can share their extensive knowledge and learn about best practices throughout the field.
$677,850 spent15% of program spendingCommunications and public relations: the league provides orchestras and individuals with updates and news about the field; develops strategic messaging about the public value of orchestras for use nationally and by orchestras locally; furnishes field-wide data and context to journalists; and provides media relations guidance to orchestras nationwide.
$648,152 spent14% of program spendingAdvocacy: the league represents the interests of american orchestras to members of congress and the executive branch on issues affecting the orchestra field; distributes updates on pending legislation, with recommendations for local action; and provides assistance to orchestras to build their capacity for local and state advocacy.
$482,460 spent11% of program spendingResearch and development: the league equips orchestras with industry-specific research and information to fuel innovation and provides the data and information they need to make key decisions. The league also conducts, analyzes, and disseminates a range of surveys-from quick questions focusing on specific issues, to annual, in-depth studies.
$540,210 spent12% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,544,976.
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 $12M to $9.3M (−20%).
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 2% · 2018 3% · 2019 1% · 2020 4% · 2021 9% · 2022 10% · 2023 5% · 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Simon Woods
President/CEO
Board chair
Alan Mason
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $146k → $650k.
12 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $356k from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 84% · 2019 86% · 2020 77% · 2021 60% · 2022 71% · 2023 27% — 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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
59% of AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS'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. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $995k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$995k
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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS: 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 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS?
- AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS (New York) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,295,949 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($5,200,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $12,295,949 in grants to AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEAGUE D/B/A LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS 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.
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 36 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing