Tennessee · Nonprofit
EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Tennessee) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,297 to it, the largest being FARROW FAMILY FOUNDATION ($6,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $65k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $6k
- Net assets
- $90k
What East Tennessee Symphony Orchestra does
Mission
The mission of etso is to serve, educate, and connect communities through exceptional outdoor concerts performed by volunteer musicians.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
March concert
$1,394 spent5% of program spendingFebruary concert
$12,653 spent43% of program spendingJuly 4th patriotic concert
$5,453 spent18% of program spendingChristmas concert
$7,102 spent24% of program spendingOctober concert
$3,050 spent10% of program spendingNovember concert
The 6 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $29,652.
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 2022 to 2023, from $96k to $54k (−44%).
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.
100% of EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Franklin Farrow
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $54 → $60.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’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
EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 91% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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
100% of EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $297 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like EAST TENNESSEE 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 EAST TENNESSEE 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 EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Tennessee) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,297 to it, the largest being FARROW FAMILY FOUNDATION ($6,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $6,297 in grants to EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- FARROW FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EAST TENNESSEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 East Tennessee Symphony Orchestra →
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 2 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