New York · Nonprofit
The American Classical Orchestra Inc
The American Classical Orchestra Inc (New York) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,648,000 to it, the largest being FERNWOOD FOUNDATION ($5,165,750). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $6.6M
- Net assets
- $-81814
What The American Classical Orchestra Inc does
Mission
The American Classical Orchestra recreates the sound world of the master composers. The ACO is devoted to preserving and performing the repertoire of 17th, 18th and 19th century composers. By playing the music on original instruments and using historic performance technique, we attempt to recreate the sounds an audience would have experienced when the music was written and first performed. We pass along skills and appreciation for this practice to future generations through concert performances and educational programs.Because period instruments were made of different materials, they produce a profoundly different sound from the 20th century instruments used in modern orchestras. Historical instruments, with their softer and more transparent, yet sometimes edgier tone, produce a delicacy in the gentler phrases and a pungent bite in the stronger passages. Using period instruments, the ACO can, in the 21st century, bring audiences closer to the musical genius of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven a
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Live performances returned for the 2021-2022 season after restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. In addition, Classical Music for Kids releaseda video production of "Peter and the Wolf". It was so well received ACO formed a partnership with WNET Groups Kids Media and Education Department, which sawthat "Peter and the Wolf" was posted on PBS Learning Media, where it is now available to schools across the country and can be seen worldwide.
$811,163 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $811,163.
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 2022 to 2023, from $225k to $68k (−70%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 10% · 2022 10% · 2023 3% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of The American Classical Orchestra Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
David Larkin
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $738k → $805k.
9 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of The American Classical Orchestra Inc’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
The American Classical Orchestra Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 78% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 92% · 2019 93% · 2020 83% · 2021 74% · 2022 68% · 2023 56% — 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
31% of The American Classical Orchestra Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
The American Classical Orchestra Inc draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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.
Against its field
The American Classical Orchestra Inc's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 12 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like The American Classical 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 The American Classical 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 The American Classical Orchestra Inc?
- The American Classical Orchestra Inc (New York) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,648,000 to it, the largest being FERNWOOD FOUNDATION ($5,165,750). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The American Classical Orchestra Inc have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $6,648,000 in grants to The American Classical Orchestra Inc, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The American Classical Orchestra Inc?
- FERNWOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,165,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The American Classical Orchestra Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 American Classical 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 24 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