Skip to content

Virginia · Nonprofit

CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY

CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY (Virginia) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,376 to it, the largest being THE JOSEPH AND ROBERT CORNELL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION ($225,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.2M
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$523k
Net assets
$9.5M
11/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 4%
01What it does

What Charlottesville Symphony Society does

Mission

The Charlottesville Symphony Society engages audiences of all ages in Charlottesville and beyond through exceptional musical experiences,imaginative community collaborations and inspiring education programs, independently and in partnership with the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. 10 public concerts of symphonic music performed between september and april. Participating musicians: 212 total ticket sales: 8,578

    $661,164 spent$244,177 earned by the program
    72% of program spending
  2. 2 sold out family holiday concerts of symphonic and choral music for the december holiday season. Participating musicians: 169 total attendance: 1,745

    $29,802 spent$48,522 earned by the program
    3% of program spending
  3. 2 free youth concerts featuring the famous peter and the wolf by the full orchestra and digital study guides for fourth and fifth grade students from across central virginia participating musicians: 66 total audience: 1,356 an additional 2,323 students and teachers who could not attend viewed a digital version of the program, also free of charge.

    $9,795 spent
    1% of program spending
  4. Salary of part-time director of youth education

    $14,929 spent
    2% of program spending
  5. Production fees for digital pre-concert lectures.

    $7,000 spent
    1% of program spending
  6. Private lesson scholarships for student members of the orchestra.

    $6,923 spent
    1% of program spending
  7. Preludes free in-school instrument lecture-demonstrations for k-12 students.

    $9,310 spent
    1% of program spending
  8. Repairs for play it again donated musical instruments that are then given to under-resourced schools.

    $722 spent
    0% of program spending
  9. Pro-rated portions of administrative staff salaries, payroll taxes, benefits, accounting services, information technology, and occupany: all directly related to program services delivery

    $159,621 spent$47,844 earned by the program
    17% of program spending
  10. 50th anniversary commissioned work and video and audio recordings.

    $18,417 spent$10,000 earned by the program
    2% of program spending

The 10 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $917,683.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($770k) Expenses 100 ($919k) Net assets 100 ($6.3M)2021 Revenue 59 ($451k) Expenses 82 ($757k) Net assets 138 ($8.7M)2022 Revenue 109 ($838k) Expenses 98 ($898k) Net assets 131 ($8.3M)2023 Revenue 113 ($870k) Expenses 116 ($1.1M) Net assets 131 ($8.2M)2024 Revenue 115 ($886k) Expenses 128 ($1.2M) Net assets 134 ($8.5M)2025 Revenue 161 ($1.2M) Expenses 145 ($1.3M) Net assets 150 ($9.5M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (161)Expenses (145)Net assets (150)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 $6.3M to $8.7M (+38%).

$6.3M
$8.7M
$8.3M
$8.2M
$8.5M
$9.5M
202020212022202320242025
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 0% · 2024 60% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

71% of CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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. 6 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$149k
’20
−$306k
’21
−$60k
’22
−$195k
’23
−$295k
’24
−$93k
’25
10
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

Janet B Kaltenbach

Executive director, ex-officio

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed262121221822
Joined·+5+1+6+4+5
No longer listed·101581
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 5 funders, grant income fell $35k → $33k.

6 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY’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

CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

48% 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 CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY.

43%
largest funder
82%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 37% · 2019 58% · 2020 61% · 2021 89% · 2022 68% · 2023 49% — 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

8% of CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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

88% of CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY's grant income comes from Virginia funders.

NY
MA
VA
MD
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $250k 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

CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−7% · below the median
Months of reserve10.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

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

Organizations like CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY

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 Virginia

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

69% of spending goes to programs.

Program 69%Management 18%Fundraising 13%

Governance

22
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

61%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

VA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY?
CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY (Virginia) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,376 to it, the largest being THE JOSEPH AND ROBERT CORNELL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION ($225,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $523,376 in grants to CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY?
THE JOSEPH AND ROBERT CORNELL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 Charlottesville Symphony Society →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 17 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