St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Legal name: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 430666769
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- St. Louis, MO, US
- Phone
- 314-286-4134
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Symphony Orchestras
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $54,686,743
- Expenses
- $40,383,324
- Assets
- $232,153,108
- Liabilities
- $71,242,310
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
56 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARIE-HELENE BERNARD (PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE)
Highest reported compensation
- MARIE-HELENE BERNARD (PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE): $585,474 total reported compensation
- DAVID HALEN (CONCERTMASTER): $325,009 total reported compensation
- STEVEN ROSENZWEIG (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (THRU 11/24)): $278,817 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 enrich lives through the power of music, fostering a vibrant and connected community.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o.music programs: the st. Louis symphony orchestra (slso) is celebrated as a leading american orchestra, known for its warm and engaging sound, prolific and acclaimed recording history, national and international touring activities, and distinctive commitment to educational and community outreach efforts. The slso reaches close to 266,000 people each year through live concerts, community events, and education programs, plus 218,000 through public media partnerships and millions more online. The slso musical family also includes two resident choruses: the st. Louis symphony chorus performs choral-orchestral music and the st. Louis symphony in unison chorus focuses on music of african american and african traditions. Composers of today and tomorrow are a valued part of the slso's artistic mission, with the orchestra introducing dozens of new works into the repertoire through commissions and co-commissions. The slso is committed to its hometown, performing dozens of concerts throughout the st. Louis region each season and forming meaningful partnerships with other area arts and nonprofit institutions. For more than 100 years, the slso has supported students, teachers, and parents in st. Louis and beyond through music education programming. The st. Louis symphony youth orchestra has been the region's premiere training orchestra for high school and college students for more than 50 years. The orchestra also provides performances and resources for more than 1,000 schools each year, with 237,000 students and 825 teachers participating in music education programs with the slso.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 88
- Accountability: 96
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.6%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.9%; rating input score 94; 45th 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: 26.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.75; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th 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: 59.6% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 46 of 49 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $32.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $585K · 56 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 4 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.