Montana · Nonprofit
GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC
GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC (Montana) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $685,395 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($520,260). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $685k
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What Great Falls Symphony Assoc Inc does
Mission
The mission of the great falls symphony is to infuse cultural vibrancy into the great falls community through transformative music events and education programs
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The great falls symphony association is an established cultural organization incorporated in 1959. We strive to offer a variety of live symphonic and chamber music within our mission to make great falls a better place through music.the great falls symphony includes a 65-member professional orchestra, an 80-member symphonic choir and two professional resident chamber ensembles, the cascade (string) quartet made up of 4 "core orchestral musicians.a youth orchestra program was established in 1996 under the umbrella of the great falls symphony association that supports two youth orchestras and a youth chamber music program. Over 100 talented young musicians grades 6-12 from great falls and surrounding areas participate in the program every year. These components offer a rich and diverse mix of activities that include orchestra, choral, chamber and educational concerts which reach up to 40,000 people annually.the great falls symphony presents a 7-concert classical series every year and plays host to a variety of guest artists and resident composers. The cascade quartet present a total of 8 chamber concerts in great falls. They also tour montana and the united states. To fulfill a state…
$571,082 spent$225,665 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $571,082.
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.
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 $1.9M to $2.8M (+46%).
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 44% · 2022 35% · 2023 3% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
Hillary R Shepherd
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $61k → $63k.
3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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 GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC’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
GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 90% · 2018 100% · 2019 61% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 54% · 2023 96% — 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
60% of GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
78% of GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC'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 $148k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Montana, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $537k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC
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 Montana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC: 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 GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC?
- GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC (Montana) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $685,395 to it, the largest being MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($520,260). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $685,395 in grants to GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC?
- MONTANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $520,260 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT FALLS SYMPHONY ASSOC INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Montana. 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 Great Falls Symphony Assoc →
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 8 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