Montana · Nonprofit
BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Montana) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,048,057 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($934,493). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $325k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Butte Symphony Association does
Mission
Organized as the Butte Symphony Association (bsa), the all-volunteer butte symphony orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in montana. Founded in 1950, the butte symphony has been an integral part of the art and music scene in sw montana for 76 years. We are the only symphony orchestra in southwest montana, serving butte and the rural communities in powell, granite, deer lodge, silver bow, jefferson, beaverhead, and madison counties. Throughout its seventy six -year history,the butte symphony has been a bright cultural asset for the community and the region, providing live concert performance and in-school and beyond-school educational programming for area youth. 35% of our orchestra members are students in local schools and universities. Educational programs are free to schools and youth. Every year the butte symphony performs for 1000 school children in the free, educational childrens concert for 22 schools throughout the region. The 5 concert season includes a free outdoor summe
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Promoting cultural and musical education through school educational programs and live performing arts concerts, serving butte and the rural montana communities in powell, granite, deer lodge, silver bow, jefferson, beaverhead, and madison counties.
$182,973 spent$45,274 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $182,973.
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.
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 $719k to $982k (+37%).
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: 2021 10% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income rose $84k → $110k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 90% 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 BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’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
BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 89% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
90% 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 BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 82% · 2019 84% · 2020 90% · 2021 91% · 2022 92% · 2023 82% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
90% of BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION'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 $103k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from Montana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $945k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
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 Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: 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 BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Montana) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,048,057 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($934,493). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 90% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $1,048,057 in grants to BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $934,493 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUTTE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 Butte Symphony Association →
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 6 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