Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Legal name: Pittsburgh Symphony Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 250986052
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA, US
- Phone
- 412-392-4900
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Symphony Orchestras
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $51,388,751
- Expenses
- $44,817,759
- Assets
- $193,591,073
- Liabilities
- $18,186,231
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
70 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MELIA TOURANGEAU (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- MELIA TOURANGEAU (PRESIDENT & CEO): $532,151 total reported compensation
- DAVID MCCARROLL (CONCERTMASTER): $369,390 total reported compensation
- WILLIAM CABALLERO (PRINCIPAL FRENCH HORN): $365,289 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 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's mission is to enrich the cultural life of the region and beyond through exceptional orchestral performances, education, and community engagement.
What it reported doing in 2024
The pittsburgh symphony orchestra, which celebrated 125 years of music in 2021, possesses a rich history of the world's finest conductors and musicians and an unwavering commitment to the pittsburgh region and its citizens. Since 2008, the orchestra has been led by music director manfred honeck, one of the world's leading conductors, admired for his revelatory interpretations. Past music directors have included legendary conductors such as andre previn, lorin maazel and william steinberg. See continuation on schedule o.the pittsburgh symphony has a long, illustrious history of broadcasts and recordings, which includes two grammy awards in 2018 and a grammy award in 2025. With a long and distinguished history of domestic and foreign tours dating back to 1900, psi continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world's greatest orchestras. From its home at heinz hall, the orchestra typically performs 20 weekends of bny mellon grand classics, seven weekends of pnc pops, five fiddlesticks family concerts, specials with orchestra and guest artists, and countless educational, children's, and community outreach programs that impact more than 300,000 people each year.
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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 57
- Accountability: 99
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 85.3%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 98.3%; rating input score 98; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 12.8%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.32; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 85.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 57 of 58 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $38.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $532K · 70 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.2M reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.