Lexington Symphony
Legal name: Lexington Symphony Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043301650
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Lexington, MA, USA
- Phone
- 781-523-9009
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $573,819
- Expenses
- $627,805
- Assets
- $464,346
- Liabilities
- $286,708
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Deborah Brown (Co-President)
- Jeffrey Leonard (Vice-President)
- Jan Lerbinger (Co-President)
Highest reported compensation
- Arianie Keeney (Managing Director): $79,736 total reported compensation
- Jonathan McPhee (Music Director): $63,904 total reported compensation
- Jan Lerbinger (Co-President): $2,916 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Lexington Symphony is a professional orchestra of accomplished musicians who share a passion for classical music, a commitment to community engagement, and a dedication to exacting standards of performance. The Symphony offers six programs each season at Cary Hall in Lexington and reaches thousands of area youth annually with Orchestrating Kids Through Classics™, its award-winning educational outreach program for third and fourth graders. With an emphasis on making music accessible to the community, Lexington Symphony offers world-class programming, affordable tickets, and outreach programs that introduce music lovers of all ages to classical music.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Symphony presents workshops and concerts for children and offers an educational outreach program for third and fourth graders, Orchestrating Kids Through Classics, which has received accolades from parents, kids, and teachers alike. The Organization also offers small group concerts at venues ranging from a small backyard gathering to a large corporate function hall. Lexington Symphony makes classical music accessible to all through affordable ticket prices and exciting concert experiences that audiences love and has been recognized for its community outreach efforts with a number of awards.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Accountability: 77
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.1%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 61.6%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: $23.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 23.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 68.1% of revenue deployed · 61.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $387K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 17 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.