Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Corporation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042678312
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6172360999
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Symphony Orchestras
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,478,740
- Expenses
- $3,265,146
- Assets
- $1,302,569
- Liabilities
- $297,470
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Derek Beckvold (Managing Director): $110,725 total reported compensation
- Benjamin Zander (Director and Founder): $4,018 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The BPO was formed in 1979 to provide opportunities for an evolving community of amateur student and professional players to perform together present challenging classical repertoire & enhance the publics awareness & understanding of this music. Through its recordings pre-concert lectures and affordable concert tickets the BPO seeks to reduce boundaries between audiences and the music itself.
What it reported doing in 2024
Education & Community Engagement programs: The BPO offers a number of Interpretation Classes throughout the year on Saturday mornings at the Boston Public Library. Mr. Zanders famed communication skills & lifetime immersion in all aspects of musical performance help him be a transformative musical coach guiding & inspiring highly accomplished young musicians who live or study in the Boston area to a deeper understanding of what the music is actually asking of the performer & how to communicate that with the greatest intensity & authenticity to the audience. These classes are free & open to the general public. Also included in this initiative is the Benjamin Zander Center an initiative dedicated to capturing the impactful legacy of the BPOs founder. Through an innovative web portal a record label Brattle Media & other special projects the Centers mission is to bring the transformative power of Mr. Zanders teachings to a global audience.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 88.5%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 6.1%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 88.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 45 of 45 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.