Ravinia Festival Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 366002273
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Highland Park, IL, US
- Phone
- 847-266-5100
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Performing Arts Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $65,770,018
- Expenses
- $56,837,292
- Assets
- $306,609,767
- Liabilities
- $13,085,681
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
100 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JEFFREY HAYDON (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JEFFREY HAYDON (PRESIDENT & CEO): $742,552 total reported compensation
- GREGORY WALTERS (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $370,931 total reported compensation
- PEGGY PAPAIOANNOU (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $282,288 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Ravinia is dedicated to enriching lives through music and engagement.
What it reported doing in 2024
Ravinia's steans institute (steans) is a world-renowned artist development program offering emerging professional musicians from around the world immersive programs to hone their talents since its inception in 1988. Steans has provided its tuition-free services to more than 1,700 musicians who have gone on to cultivate highly visible and successful careers in performance, leadership, and music education. The institute's offerings include the classical chamber music-focused piano & strings program and singers program; the jazz program, which advances composition and small-group collaboration; and the bridges competition, which further develops and premieres the winning composers' new works that bridge the rich connections between jazz and classical chamber music. Each summer, fellowships are awarded to approximately 60 emerging professional classical pianists and string players, classical singers, and jazz artists. Fellowships in each program are highly sought after, and each fellow enjoys personalized guidance from the world-class faculty of headlining artists and scholars, as well as attendance at ravinia concerts and social activities, forming lasting connections with peers and mentors alike.
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: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 61
- Accountability: 99
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.1%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- 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: 98.8%; rating input score 99; 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: 13.6%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.39; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 73.1% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 83 of 84 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $45.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $743K · 100 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.5M reported
- Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 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: 7 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.