Georgia · Nonprofit
GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Georgia) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $506,694 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER ATLANTA INC ($258,942). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $800k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $507k
- Net assets
- $-367272
What Georgia Symphony Orchestra does
Mission
The Georgia Symphony Orchestra GSO is a non-profit corporation organized for the purposes of providing significant cultural and educational value to the north-metro Atlanta community. The organization performs public concerts through our Classical Concert Series Holiday Pops concerts Jazz and Choral Concerts. The Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra GYSO is a vital component of the GSO corporation formed for the purposes of providing young musicians in this community an orchestral experience marked by excellence through a unique relationship with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. The GSO enriches lives and creates impact far beyond the concert hall through innovative and engaging performances world-class educational programs and intentional community engagement.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
GSO Season Performances: Georgia Symphony Orchestra - 8 performances; GSO Jazz! - 3 performances; GSO Chorus - 5 performances; Sensory Friendly - 2 performances; Family Series - 2 performances.
$579,473 spent$144,864 earned by the program83% of program spendingGeorgia Youth Symphony Orchestra - 28 weeks of instruction for 308 students; 6 performances 9 ensembles.
$114,726 spent$212,310 earned by the program17% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $694,199.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $453k to $773k (+70%).
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 6% · 2022 35% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 5 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
Michael Knowles
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $57k → $58k.
3 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 GEORGIA 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
GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
71% 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 GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 84% · 2019 100% · 2020 62% · 2021 48% · 2022 72% · 2023 60% — 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 GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
70% of GEORGIA 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 $154k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from Georgia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $353k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.
Government funding GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $40k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$40k
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 GEORGIA 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 Georgia
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 GEORGIA 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 GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Georgia) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $506,694 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER ATLANTA INC ($258,942). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $506,694 in grants to GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER ATLANTA INC is the largest funder on record, with $258,942 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GEORGIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Georgia. 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 Georgia 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 15 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