California Pops Orchestra

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
743223842
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025
Location
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone
6508568432
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Symphony Orchestras

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$60,352
Expenses
$73,829
Assets
$36,394
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Alicia Wilmunder (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Alicia Wilmunder (Executive Director)
  • Kim Venaas (Musical Director)
  • Mike Naar (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Community-based pops orchestra performances for the public.

What it reported doing in 2025

Served community members, mostly seniors and families, through concerts of accessible and affordable live orchestral presentations drawn from the Great American Songbook repertoire. The concerts are comprised of requests from those served and presented in a family-friendly and community-building format.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 35
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 38.1%; rating input score 38
  • Program expense ratio: 31.1%; rating input score 31

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -22.3%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -42.9% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -22.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 38.1% of revenue deployed · 31.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $23K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.