Ohio · Nonprofit
COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Ohio) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $38,209,604 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($24,665,468). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $36M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $38M
- Net assets
- $76M
What Columbus Symphony Orchestra does
Mission
The mission of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is to provide symphonic music and educational programs of the highest quality, to engender passion and excitement in our diverse audiences. This is paired with our educational mission: to educate and entertain people of all ages to foster talent, create future audiences, nurture intellectual development and spark creativity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
2024-25 indoor concerts included the masterworks series, with 12 programs (24 performances), and a series of special pops concerts (5 programs/7 performances), which included the holiday pops spectacular and a program featuring the orchestra performing the score live along with screening of batman 1989. Total attendance for concerts in these series was 48,158.
$4,380,821 spent$1,313,017 earned by the program51% of program spendingThe 2025 picnic with the pops and popcorn pops outdoor concert series in the columbus commons included nine (9) concert programs, which were attended by 17,769 individuals.
$2,549,923 spent$610,755 earned by the program29% of program spendingCso education programs in the 2024 to 2025 season include a broad range of offerings designed to serve students, educators, and lifelong learners. Classroom programs include young people's concerts, in school concerts, the mindful music moments program, ensemble coaching, chamber performances, and an in school residency program.cso also supports four youth ensembles, youth orchestra, repertory orchestra, chamber strings, and junior strings, as well as a youth orchestra european tour. The academy provides intensive training for students of diverse backgrounds who aspire to pursue careers in music.for adult learners, fantasy camp offers a day-long immersive experience for amateur musicians to learn alongside symphony professionals. In addition, cso plans to relaunch its educational website for children in august.in total, cso education programs are projected to serve more than 50,000 individuals during the 2024 to 2025 season.
$684,925 spentof which $7,500 as grants$144,598 earned by the program8% of program spendingAudience development series (community engagement, etc.); special events and contracted musician performances.
$1,047,526 spent$507,704 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,663,195.
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 2023 to 2024, from $49M to $77M (+58%).
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 4% · 2019 5% · 2020 5% · 2021 33% · 2022 13% · 2023 9% · 2024 54%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Stephen E Markovich
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $3.7M → $6.5M.
16 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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
COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 71% · 2019 61% · 2020 70% · 2021 69% · 2022 77% · 2023 77% — 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
66% of COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 83% 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
72% of COLUMBUS 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 $11M that is directly attributable, 89% of it comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $28M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like COLUMBUS 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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 COLUMBUS 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 COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Ohio) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $38,209,604 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($24,665,468). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $38,209,604 in grants to COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 45 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- COLUMBUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $24,665,468 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLUMBUS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Columbus Symphony Orchestra →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 54 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing