Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 140 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,540,016 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($12,576,000). 99 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 140
- Grants received
- $49M
- Net assets
- $137M
What Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Inc does
Mission
The milwaukee symphony orchestra, inc. ("mso") reaches out to diverse audiences through concert performances and nationally recognized education and outreach programs. All programs are guided by the mso family shared vision which states that the mso exists for three purposes: to comfort, educate, entertain and exhilarate the human soul through events of cultural significance, relevance and artistic challenge; to embrace, preserve and foster our musical heritage; and to enhance the vibrancy of our community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The milwaukee symphony orchestra, led by music director ken-david masur, is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural institution in wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the mso has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of milwaukee.the mso's full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. A pioneer among american orchestras, the mso has performed world and american premieres of works by john adams, roberto sierra, philip glass, geoffrey gordon, marc neikrug, camille ppin, matthias pintscher, and dobrinka tabakova, as well as garnered national recognition as the first american orchestra to offer live recordings on itunes.in january of 2021, the mso completed a years-long project to restore and renovate a former movie palace in the heart of downtown milwaukee. The bradley symphony center officially opened to audiences in october 2021. This project has sparked a renewal on west wisconsin avenue and continues to be a catalyst in the community.the…
$17,757,037 spent$5,501,148 earned by the program97% of program spendingThe mso's standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 30,000 children and their families through its arts in community education (ace) program, youth and teen concerts, family series, and meet the music pre-concert talks. Celebrating its 35th year, the nationally recognized ace program integrates arts education across all subjects and disciplines, providing opportunities for students when budget cuts may eliminate arts programming. The program provides lesson plans and supporting materials, classroom visits from mso musician ensembles and artists from local organizations, and an mso concert tailored to each grade level. This season, more than 5,900 students and 500 teachers and faculty are expected to participate in ace both in person and in a virtual format.
$516,556 spent$166,315 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,273,593.
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 2017 to 2018, from $47M to $77M (+65%).
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
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
Mark Niehaus
President & executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
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 140 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 140 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
61% of MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
97% 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 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
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· 550 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
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
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 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. Screen this nonprofit · 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 140 organizations whose IRS filings report $48,540,016 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($12,576,000). 99 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC have?
- IRS filings report 140 organizations giving $48,540,016 in grants to MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC, 99 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.
Play a game about who funds Milwaukee 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 140 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