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California · Nonprofit

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $822,626 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($253,250). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1.8M
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$823k
Net assets
$2.1M
9/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 18%
01What it does

What Santa Cruz County Symphony Association does

Mission

The santa cruz county symphony's mission is to inspire, educate and engage through artistic excellence, distinctive musical performances and varied activities that celebrate and enhance the cultural vibrancy of our community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The santa cruz county symphony fulfills its cultural leadership role by providing classical concerts, free youth concerts, family concerts, and recitals.

    $1,199,056 spent$498,992 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,199,056.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.3M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($1.0M)2018 Revenue 96 ($1.2M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 109 ($1.1M)2019 Revenue 102 ($1.3M) Expenses 111 ($1.3M) Net assets 110 ($1.1M)2020 Revenue 114 ($1.4M) Expenses 91 ($1.0M) Net assets 142 ($1.5M)2021 Revenue 40 ($506k) Expenses 45 ($518k) Net assets 164 ($1.7M)2022 Revenue 114 ($1.4M) Expenses 116 ($1.3M) Net assets 151 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 118 ($1.5M) Expenses 122 ($1.4M) Net assets 166 ($1.7M)2024 Revenue 137 ($1.7M) Expenses 144 ($1.6M) Net assets 188 ($1.9M)2025 Revenue 141 ($1.8M) Expenses 147 ($1.7M) Net assets 206 ($2.1M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (141)Expenses (147)Net assets (206)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $1.6M to $1.9M (+19%).

$1.4M
$1.4M
$1.5M
$1.5M
$1.8M
$1.6M
$1.9M
$2.1M
$2.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 10% · 2022 4% · 2023 32%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

65% of SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$123k
’17
$73k
’18
$28k
’19
$400k
’20
−$12k
’21
$116k
’22
$100k
’23
$84k
’24
$107k
’25
6.8
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed202023232522212225
Joined·+2+8+0+9+6+0+4+8
No longer listed·25079135
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $34k → $143k.

6 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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: $501k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Community Foundation Santa Cruz County). These are real filings, and they are not money SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION raised.

From the IRS filings of SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

69% 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 SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION.

31%
largest funder
79%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 50% · 2019 54% · 2020 47% · 2021 77% · 2022 56% · 2023 49% — 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

50% of SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

61% of SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION'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 $324k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.

NY
RI
CA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $499k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin6% · above the median
Months of reserve6.8mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

72% of spending goes to programs.

Program 72%Management 25%Fundraising 3%

Governance

24
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

73%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Symphony League of Santa Cruz County · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $822,626 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($253,250). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $822,626 in grants to SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $253,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION 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.

Play a game about who funds Santa Cruz County Symphony Association →

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 12 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