Iowa · Nonprofit
DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Iowa) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,237,851 to it, the largest being BRAVO GREATER DES MOINES INC ($1,862,300). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.1M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $7.2M
- Net assets
- $22M
What Des Moines Symphony Association does
Mission
The des moines symphony is a not-for-profit, professional orchestra formed in 1937 to enrich, educate, and inspire the community by performing great orchestral music. The symphony association, governed by a volunteer board of trustees and operating on an annual budget of more than 4.2 million, supports the symphony academy and its numerous music education programs including four youth orchestras and a youth wind ensemble. The association also supports the des moines symphony orchestra which performs seven pairs of masterworks concerts, a summer season of free outdoor concerts at the lauridsen amphitheater in water works park, a regular season pops series including the traditional new year's eve pops, and education, outreach, and family concerts. The des moines symphony also produces and performs the annual yankee doodle pops concert in july on the ground of the iowa state capital.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Concert performancesthe Des Moines Symphony Association performs seven pairs of masterworks concerts, as well as education and family concerts, and both a regular season and summer season pops series which draws audience members from throughout iowa.
$2,797,708 spent$837,930 earned by the program86% of program spendingMusic educationthe des moines symphony academy provides an array of programs and opportunities for individual and group instruction, performance, and community involvement for students of all ages.
$447,032 spent$283,198 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,244,740.
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 2021 to 2022, from $12M to $19M (+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: 2021 31% · 2022 42% · 2023 7% · 2024 8% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Richard L Early
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 24 funders to 22 funders, grant income fell $609k → $603k.
9 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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: $5.5M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Des Moines Symphony Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 26% of grant income and the top three 59%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
56% 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 DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 30% · 2019 39% · 2020 42% · 2021 28% · 2022 24% · 2023 31% — 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
51% of DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
88% of DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 DES MOINES 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 Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Des Moines Symphony Academy LLC · disregarded
- Des Moines Symphony Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DES MOINES 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 DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (Iowa) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,237,851 to it, the largest being BRAVO GREATER DES MOINES INC ($1,862,300). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $7,237,851 in grants to DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- BRAVO GREATER DES MOINES INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,862,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Des Moines 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 53 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