Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,317,716 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($12,576,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC's funding base is broadening — from 41 funders to 64 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 501 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- The Burke Foundation Incshared funderslocal
- E Nakamichi Foundationportfolio match
- Donald and Donna Baumgartner Charitable Trustportfolio match
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.
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 6% · 2021 5% · 2022 11% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 64 funders, grant income rose $2.7M → $3.7M.
16 of 139 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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: $20M from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Performing Arts Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC raised.
From the IRS filings of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 139 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
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
42% 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 MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 32% · 2019 26% · 2020 69% · 2021 23% · 2022 45% · 2023 28% — 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
60% of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC'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
98% of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 139 funders put you well-backed among the 400 organizations that share them.
- The Burke Foundation Incshared funderslocalWI · backs 35 organizations that share your funders · funds 37 organizations near you
- E Nakamichi Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Donald and Donna Baumgartner Charitable Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Kurt Weill Foundation for Musicportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Daniel M Soref Rvoc Trshared funderslocalWI · backs 41 organizations that share your funders · funds 48 organizations near you
- Nicholas Family Foundation Trustshared fundersWI · backs 54 organizations that share your funders
- Charles D Jacobus Family Foundationshared funderslocalWI · backs 37 organizations that share your funders · funds 42 organizations near you
- Emory T Clark Family Foundationshared fundersMN · backs 46 organizations that share your funders
- Four-Four Foundation Incshared fundersNY · backs 39 organizations that share your funders
- Jerome J and Dorothy H Holz Family Foundation C/O Donald Tushausshared funderslocalWI · backs 58 organizations that share your funders · funds 62 organizations near you
- Archdiocese of Milwaukee Catholic Community Foundation Incshared funderslocalWI · backs 53 organizations that share your funders · funds 103 organizations near you
- Weiss Family Foundationshared funderslocalWI · backs 59 organizations that share your funders · funds 71 organizations near you
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $125k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$125k
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 MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Endowment · exempt
- Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Long-Term Fund · exempt
- Tnsh Landlord LLC · partnership
- Tnsh Manager LLC · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC?
- MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,317,716 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($12,576,000). 97 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC have?
- IRS filings report 139 organizations giving $48,317,716 in grants to MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC, 97 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC?
- The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $12,576,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 139funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing