Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC
BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,905,984 to it, the largest being POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION ($6,400,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $31M
What Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Inc does
Mission
To encourage musical excellence in a professional and supportive environment by providing the highest quality orchestra training and performance opportunities to qualified musicians, grades k-12, and making its programs accessible to underserved communities through financial assistance and outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Orchestra operations - to support the programmatic work of all the orchestras.
$2,941,165 spentof which $152,832 as grants$2,344,965 earned by the program75% of program spendingConcert productions - to provide logistical support to the orchestras at boston university and outside concert venues.
$559,640 spent$134,622 earned by the program14% of program spendingMarketing - to market the orchestras and to sell tickets to patrons
$395,507 spent$7,787 earned by the program10% of program spendingBoston symphony orchestra partnership - a concert collaboration of byso students and bso professional musicians
$7,254 spent$22,650 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,903,566.
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 2022 to 2023, from $12M to $28M (+135%).
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 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 2% · 2021 7% · 2022 6% · 2023 4% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Catherine Weiskel
Pres/CEO & ex-officio
Board chair
Margaret Chen
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 38 funders, grant income rose $647k → $11M.
14 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
50% 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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 37% · 2019 32% · 2020 21% · 2021 53% · 2022 65% · 2023 57% — growing more concentrated.
“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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS 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
63% of BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M 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
BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters 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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $395k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$395k
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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS 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 BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC?
- BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,905,984 to it, the largest being POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION ($6,400,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $21,905,984 in grants to BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC?
- POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOSTON YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras →
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 75 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