California · Nonprofit
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY (California) receives grants from 245 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,932,729 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($12,032,621). 168 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $68M
- Funders on record
- 245
- Grants received
- $47M
- Net assets
- $404M
What San Francisco Symphony does
Mission
The San Francisco Symphony exists to inspire and serve audiences and communities throughout the bay area and the world through the power of musical performance.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Through its artistic, education, and community programs, the San Francisco Symphony serves more than 650,000 bay area residents and visitors of every economic and cutural background in over 175 concerts throughout the year. Concerts include the classical subscription series, chamber concerts, great performer series, and new artist spotlight series. Additional concerts include live films and the innovative soundbox series. The symphony additionally reaches millions of listeners throughout the united states and abroad through recording, digital performance, and radio and television broadcasts.
$58,464,262 spentof which $138,716 as grants$31,833,920 earned by the program96% of program spendingIn partnership with the san francisco unified school district, the San Francisco Symphony provides comprehensive music education to every student in grades 1-5 in san francisco's public elementary schools through adventures in music, and supports every public middle and high school band and orchestra program through music and mentors.
$2,496,992 spentof which $41,000 as grants4% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $60,961,254.
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 $349M to $429M (+23%).
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 5% · 2019 4% · 2020 18% · 2021 22% · 2022 1% · 2023 3% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of SAN FRANCISCO 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. 4 of the last 8 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
Matthew Spivey
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Priscilla B Geeslin
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 77 funders to 101 funders, grant income rose $2.5M → $11M.
27 of 245 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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: $23M from 11 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation); $15M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest The Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts). These are real filings, and they are not money SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY raised.
From the IRS filings of SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 245 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
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
57% 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 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 30% · 2019 19% · 2020 30% · 2021 17% · 2022 21% · 2023 54% — 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
48% of SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
56% of SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY'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 $21M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY receives grants from 245 organizations whose IRS filings report $47M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $705k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$705k
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 SAN FRANCISCO 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 SAN FRANCISCO 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 SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY?
- SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY (California) receives grants from 245 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,932,729 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($12,032,621). 168 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY have?
- IRS filings report 245 organizations giving $46,932,729 in grants to SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY, 168 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $12,032,621 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 245 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