Illinois · Nonprofit
EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION
EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $182,876 to it, the largest being Evanston Community Foundation ($71,523). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $327k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $183k
- Net assets
- $407k
What Evanston Symphony Orchestra Association does
Mission
To promote and provide education and appreciation in the field of music, thereby contributing to the cultural life of the evanston community, and to provide an outlet for the musical talents of people who reside in the area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Regular Concerts: The Evanston Symphony Orchestra performs four subscription concerts a year. Orchestra musicians who are members all donate their time. Our music director is a professional conductor, and our concertmaster is a professional violinist. Soloists include nationally and internationally recognized artists. Ticket prices are kept low to ensure accessibility. Children 12 and under are admitted free. The Orchestra gives free pre-concert lectures in Evanston on the Friday preceding each concert, and provides appropriate program booklets to both adults and children (KidNotes) at all concerts.
$156,978 spent$61,547 earned by the program67% of program spendingHoliday Concert: The Evanston Symphony Orchestra performs one holiday pops concert. This seasonal extravaganza is a popular tradition in the area and is recognized as a way for the whole community to celebrate the holidays. THe ESO partners with other recognized diverse music and dance organizations to create a concert event which is also the largest indoor performance event in the Chicago North Shore area.
$30,724 spent$37,117 earned by the program13% of program spendingSummer Concert: The Evanston Symphony Orchestra peforms one summer concert, which was in August 2023. The concert is free to attend.
$17,425 spent7% of program spendingOutreach for Pre-schoolers and Their Families: The Evanston Symphony Orchestra brings a series of music education classes which are free to underserved and low income pre-schoolers and their families in the Head Start and Pre-K programs in Evanston. This program also includes classes for Early Head Start children and a free Young Persons Concert which allows middle school musicians to play side-by-side with the ESO.
$29,704 spent13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $234,831.
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 2020 to 2021, from $292k to $369k (+27%).
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 9% · 2021 13% · 2022 32% · 2023 7% · 2024 13% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
55% of EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $10k → $48k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION’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
EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
97% 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 EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 99% · 2019 99% · 2020 99% · 2021 61% · 2022 80% · 2023 41% — 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
50% of EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
75% of EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION'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 $46k that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $137k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% 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
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 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 EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION?
- EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $182,876 to it, the largest being Evanston Community Foundation ($71,523). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $182,876 in grants to EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION?
- Evanston Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $71,523 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EVANSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Evanston Symphony Orchestra 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 10 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