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Maine · Nonprofit

BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Maine) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,427 to it, the largest being The Mimi Foundation ($356,250). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.2M
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$984k
Net assets
$4.2M
14/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 45%
01What it does

What Bangor Symphony Orchestra does

Mission

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra provides powerful, enriching and diverse musical experiences through live concert performances and education programs of the highest quality.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Concerts - the bso produces live classical music performances for over 10,000 attendees from throughout central maine. The bso produces multiple classical music concerts, a pops concert, educational concerts for young people.

    $716,329 spent$407,715 earned by the program
    92% of program spending
  2. Education - through the bangor symphony youth orchestras and various outreach programs. The bso provides accessible educational opportunities to youth in the region.

    $61,910 spent$13,143 earned by the program
    8% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $778,239.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($936k) Expenses 100 ($810k) Net assets 100 ($2.1M)2018 Revenue 101 ($941k) Expenses 104 ($846k) Net assets 108 ($2.2M)2019 Revenue 112 ($1.0M) Expenses 108 ($873k) Net assets 118 ($2.4M)2020 Revenue 116 ($1.1M) Expenses 82 ($667k) Net assets 136 ($2.8M)2021 Revenue 99 ($929k) Expenses 73 ($595k) Net assets 176 ($3.6M)2022 Revenue 114 ($1.1M) Expenses 104 ($845k) Net assets 162 ($3.3M)2023 Revenue 93 ($867k) Expenses 124 ($1.0M) Net assets 169 ($3.5M)2024 Revenue 133 ($1.2M) Expenses 130 ($1.1M) Net assets 192 ($4.0M)2025 Revenue 125 ($1.2M) Expenses 133 ($1.1M) Net assets 204 ($4.2M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (125)Expenses (133)Net assets (204)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $2.9M to $3.7M (+26%).

$2.1M
$2.3M
$2.5M
$2.9M
$3.7M
$3.4M
$3.5M
$4.1M
$4.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

43% of BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$126k
’17
$95k
’18
$177k
’19
$418k
’20
$334k
’21
$219k
’22
−$138k
’23
$193k
’24
$91k
’25
5.4
months of
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

Renia Shterenberg

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed181818211918201518
Joined·+0+5+5+7+1+5+7+6
No longer listed·052923123
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $122k → $391k.

6 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

30% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.

36%
largest funder
62%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 35% · 2019 42% · 2020 35% · 2021 31% · 2022 19% · 2023 74% — 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

73% of BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

83% of BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's grant income comes from Maine funders.

ME
NY
CT
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maine out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $263k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin8% · above the median
Months of reserve5.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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 Maine

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

72% of spending goes to programs.

Program 72%Management 16%Fundraising 12%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

93%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

ME

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: 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.

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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 BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Maine) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,427 to it, the largest being The Mimi Foundation ($356,250). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $984,427 in grants to BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
The Mimi Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $356,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BANGOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 Bangor Symphony 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 21 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