Tennessee · Nonprofit
KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED
KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED (Tennessee) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,124,790 to it, the largest being HASLAM FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($1,165,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.3M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $920k
What Knoxville Symphony Society Incorporated does
Mission
To develop and sustain a symphony orchestra of the highest artistic standards and to reach east tennessee audiences of all ages by providing excellence in musical performance and education programs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Moxley carmichael masterworks series - 8 concerts by the full orchestra performing symphonic masterpieces; 15,137 served
$686,017 spent$533,267 earned by the program16% of program spendingPops series - 8 performances of contemporary music by the pops orchestra and featured guests; 18,644 served
$740,338 spent$780,442 earned by the program17% of program spendingChamber music - 5 concerts by the chamber orchestra performing classical and contemporary pieces; 4,160 served
$126,245 spent$115,618 earned by the program3% of program spendingConcertmaster and q series - 9 concerts; 1,625 served young peoples concerts - performances by the orchestra for elementary and middle school children designed for music education various other performances and music education activities throughout the east tennessee area for the community.
$2,808,322 spent$949,037 earned by the program64% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,360,922.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.5M to $1.9M (+26%).
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 5% · 2018 5% · 2019 4% · 2020 11% · 2021 5% · 2022 25% · 2023 6% · 2024 8% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
50% of KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $376k → $267k.
8 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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: $4.0M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Knoxville Symphony Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED raised.
From the IRS filings of KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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
KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 63% · 2019 72% · 2020 62% · 2021 33% · 2022 38% · 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
68% of KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED'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
96% of KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $606k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED's revenue grew 34% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $33k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$33k
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 KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED
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.
Where the money goes
82% 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 KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED: 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 KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED?
- KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED (Tennessee) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,124,790 to it, the largest being HASLAM FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($1,165,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $3,124,790 in grants to KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED?
- HASLAM FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,165,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED 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 Knoxville Symphony Society →
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 33 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