Missouri · Nonprofit
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY (Missouri) receives grants from 111 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,536,713 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY ($4,879,280). 84 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 111
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $83M
What Kansas City Symphony does
Mission
Its mission is to perform great performances for greater audiences. The Kansas City Symphony will achieve this mission by: - developing an uncompromising performance standard. - advancing the profile and value of the orchestra locally, nationally and internationally. - developing the financial resources to allow the orchestra to thrive today and tomorrow. - creating an internal culture that stimulates effective relationships within and between board, staff and musicians. - developing audiences and partnerships that allow the orchestra to thrive today and tomorrow.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
During the 2025 fiscal year, the Kansas City Symphony offered 201 performances of 83 different programs across the full range of classical, pops, film, and other repertoire. In addition, the Symphony served as the pit orchestra in 64 performances of eight different programs for the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Symphony audiences hailed from 1,512 communities in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries. In total, the Kansas City Symphony reached more than 209,000 people in person during the 2024/25 season. Classical audiences numbered 45,745, Pops totaled 18,855 and Family drew 2,109. Holiday programs attracted 17,307 to nine performances of Christmas Festival and Handel's Messiah. Film + Live Orchestra and special programs were especially popular with 40,653 attending 34 performances of 17 programs, including a concert featuring Ben Folds and films from the "Harry Potter" series. The Happy Hour series of informal chamber music programs had enthusiastic crowds totaling 7,335 at the four free concerts. Free outdoor Mobile Music Box neighborhood concerts introduced new audiences to the artistry of Symphony musicians, with 50…
$22,383,468 spent$8,573,477 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $22,383,468.
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 $65M to $81M (+24%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 25% · 2022 16% · 2023 11% · 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% 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
Daniel Beckley
Chief Executive Officer
Board chair
Linda Gill Taylor
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 54 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $2.8M.
18 of 111 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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: $11M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Kansas City Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY raised.
From the IRS filings of KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 111 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
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
32% 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 KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 64% · 2019 54% · 2020 26% · 2021 20% · 2022 18% · 2023 26% — 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
56% of KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% 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
64% of KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY is better cushioned than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $155k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$155k
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 KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- More Music LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: 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 KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY?
- KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY (Missouri) receives grants from 111 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,536,713 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY ($4,879,280). 84 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY have?
- IRS filings report 111 organizations giving $23,536,713 in grants to KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY, 84 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY is the largest funder on record, with $4,879,280 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 111 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