Texas · Nonprofit
DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Texas) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,512,720 to it, the largest being O'DONNELL FOUNDATION ($32,276,443). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $49M
- Funders on record
- 105
- Grants received
- $71M
- Net assets
- $3.7M
What Dallas Symphony Association does
Mission
To inspire and change lives through musical excellence.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's mission statement is to inspire and change lives through musical excellence. It strives to be a key catalyst in making Dallas a world-class city and major cultural center with the DSO as a landmark. The DSO is ranked among the top American orchestras. The classical series, pops series and numerous events highlighting diversity in the city, along with youth concerts, number over 165 performances each year. As a community partner, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra sponsors the following programs: Community Connections (Free tickets distributed by social service agencies), Youth Strings (provides free instruments and music lessons to students), Young Musicians (provides free instruments and lessons for students at Dallas ISD sites across southern Dallas), Symphony Yes (provides musician ensembles to perform in area schools), DSO Kids (educational website for children and teachers), and MY DSO Concert (free concert for adults and children with autism and developmental disabilities). The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is a community of passionate music lovers making more music lovers.
$40,218,038 spent$14,648,027 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $40,218,038.
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 2019 to 2020, from $19M to $30M (+62%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 24% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
22% of DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 4 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
Michelle Miller Burns
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $18M.
18 of 105 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $102M from 13 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Dallas Symphony Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 105 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
DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 34% · 2019 31% · 2020 26% · 2021 24% · 2022 29% · 2023 64% — 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
48% of DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
97% of DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's funding base is broadening — from 27 funders to 43 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $350k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$350k
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 DALLAS 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Dallas Symphony Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DALLAS 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 DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Texas) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $70,512,720 to it, the largest being O'DONNELL FOUNDATION ($32,276,443). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 105 organizations giving $70,512,720 in grants to DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION, 64 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- O'DONNELL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $32,276,443 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DALLAS SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Dallas 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 105 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