Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
836006472
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Cheyenne, WY, USA
Phone
3077788561
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Symphony Orchestras

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,343,812
Expenses
$995,412
Assets
$1,652,524
Liabilities
$294,403

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JESSICA SCHNEIDER (PRESIDENT)
  • MICK FINNEGAN (PRESIDENT ELECT)
  • LINDSEY REYNOLDS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • LINDSEY REYNOLDS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $71,414 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 cheyenne symphony orchestra's outstanding professional performances and educational outreach engage, inspire, and enhance the quality of life for cheyenne and surrounding areas. In pursuit of its mission, cso values: artistic excellence, innovation, and growth; audience engagement, enrichment, and expansion; fiscal responsibility, sustainability, and advancement; cultural leadership, collaboration, and development.

What it reported doing in 2024

Each season, cso offers five masterpiece concerts, a holiday pops concert, and a family matinee in the cheyenne civic center. Cso also presents a series of hausmusik concerts held in cheyenne homes or smaller venues and an intensive educational outreach program to laramie county school district #1 & #2. The cheyenne symphony orchestra has been able to accomplish this because of the generous support, both financially and through volunteerism, of our patrons and donors, the community of cheyenne, and public-minded businesses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 64% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.6%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 78.2%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.9%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.66; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.6% of revenue deployed · 78.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $779K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $71K · 23 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.