Madison Symphony Orchestra Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
390839707
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Madison, WI, USA
Phone
6082573734
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Symphony Orchestras

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,842,882
Expenses
$6,718,251
Assets
$8,318,528
Liabilities
$1,281,966

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

Leadership & pay

45 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT REED (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN DEMAIN (MUSIC DIRECTOR): $308,149 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT REED (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $199,790 total reported compensation
  • CASEY OELKERS (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $146,935 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To sponsor, develop, and promote programs of musical excellence for the people of madison and the surrounding area, and to provide music education.

What it reported doing in 2024

Educational concerts provided for the community. For the year ending 06/30/2025, there were 8 full orchestra concerts and 150 small ensemble concerts. Educational programs have a wide range of audiences. Symphony soup: symphony soup is a special way for students in kindergarten through third grade to learn about classical music through the experience of a live symphony concert. Symphony soup conveys the way ingredients, spices, and flavors combine in a delicious bowl of soup, just as musical instruments come together to create beautiful music that can lift and refresh the soul. Link up: link up is a music education program created by carnegie hall's weill music institute that gives students in grades 3-5 the opportunity to explore music through a yearlong curriculum of classroom activities during which they learn to play the soprano recorder. A culminating concert brings the students into overture's capitol theater to perform with the mso! Fall youth concerts: an all-american program of live music for middle and high school students with real-time illustrations featuring local artist and professional illustrator t.l. Luke. Young people's concerts: the mso's spring young people's concert is open to and designed for students in middle and high school. Concert prep materials appropriate for each age group will be designed and made available to all teachers on the madison symphony orchestra's website. Up close and musical: up close and musical brings the power and beauty of classical music into the classrooms of elementary schools throughout dane county. The curriculum is guided by the comprehensive musicianship through performance model and academic standards for music, bringing the hunt quartet into elementary schools four times each year. School visits take place in october, november, march, & april. Individual quartet members visit separate classrooms to conduct exciting and interactive lessons that send students on a hunt for the concepts of melody, rhythm, expression, and form heartstrings: this music therapy-informed program continues to reach beyond traditional performance settings to bring live, interactive presentations by some of the madison symphony orchestra's best players into healthcare and residential facilities. Our sessions have demonstrated extraordinary physical, emotional, cognitive, and social changes for people of all ages and levels of functioning, reaching nearly 3,200 individuals each season.tune up for the concerts pre-concert talks for adults! Prelude discussions enrich the concert experience with insights into the music and the lives of the composers. Step into the hushed and intimate atmosphere of overture hall with just a handful of other music lovers for a conversation with the maestro, guest conductor, or even on rare occasions the composer.

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 96% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.1%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.9%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.1% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 41 of 41 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 45 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.