North Carolina · Nonprofit
WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,676,853 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,164,008). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $6.1M
What Winston-Salem Symphony Association does
Mission
To bring music to life: believing that music has the power to inspire, the winston-salem symphony will fulfill this mission by enriching the community with live music. The symphony brings performances, educational programs, and community engagement initiatives to where people live and desires for audiences to experience music in a way that is relevant and meaningful to their own lives. Through music, the winston-salem symphony aspires to create shared experiences and connections that improve the quality of life in winston-salem and throughout the region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Performances: 46 in-person performances (classics, pops, family, and chorus) and educational/family programs serving 25,432 audience members.
$1,536,997 spent$749,379 earned by the program73% of program spendingPublic school instruction: summer play music camp served 38 students over 4 weeks and summer youth orchestra festival served 54 students over a one- week camp. Provided 690 in-person classes for 375 students for our play music program (piedmont learning academy for youth). Provided 120 in-person rehearsals for 199 youth orchestra students of varying levels over four ensembles (chamber sinfonia/premiere strings, youth philharmonic, and youth symphony). Provided 83 in-school ensemble performances at every forsyth county elementary school for 15,136 4th and 5th grade student interactions.
$559,338 spent$80,907 earned by the program27% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,096,335.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $6.4M to $6.8M (+6%).
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: 2021 12% · 2022 26% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION’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. 3 of the last 5 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.
Board chair
Jay Reed
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $338k → $676k.
9 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 WINSTON-SALEM 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
WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% 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
96% 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 WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 84% · 2019 59% · 2020 49% · 2021 40% · 2022 43% · 2023 42% — 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
44% of WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
83% of WINSTON-SALEM 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 $809k that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION has grown faster than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$15k
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 WINSTON-SALEM 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 WINSTON-SALEM 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.
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 WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,676,853 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,164,008). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $4,676,853 in grants to WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,164,008 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Winston-Salem 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 28 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