California · Nonprofit
BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,633,470 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($473,624). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $601k
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $546k
What Berkeley Symphony Orchestra does
Mission
The mission of berkeley symphony is to celebrate our unique and diverse community through music-creating live performances and educational programs to engage the curiosity, spirit, and intellect of our audiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Symphonic Concerts: Berkeley Symphony offers symphonic concerts, three during fiscal year ended July 31, 2025, located at Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley.
$713,773 spent80% of program spendingMusic in the Schools: Berkeley Symphony provides award-winning comprehensive and year-round music education programs in all 11 Berkeley Public elementary schools and 3 middle schools.
$154,319 spent17% of program spendingBerkeley Symphony & Friends Chamber Concerts: Berkeley Symphony's 5 chamber concerts provide opportunities for musicians to perform in the East Bay and expands our audience with performances in an intimate chamber setting at Piedmont Center for the Arts.
$28,302 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $896,394.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.6M to $701k (−55%).
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 2% · 2020 5% · 2021 21% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% · 2024 2% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 10 funders, grant income fell $195k → $122k.
12 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 BERKELEY 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
BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 63% · 2019 34% · 2020 52% · 2021 33% · 2022 34% · 2023 29% — 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
40% of BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
55% of BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $731k that is directly attributable, 93% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $902k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's revenue fell 56% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $155k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$155k
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 BERKELEY 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
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 BERKELEY 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.
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 BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,633,470 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($473,624). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $1,633,470 in grants to BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $473,624 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKELEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Berkeley 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 26 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