Seattle Chamber Music Festival

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911169836
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2062838710
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,543,441
Expenses
$3,796,878
Assets
$9,871,934
Liabilities
$2,003,671

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

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • J Scott Gary (President)
  • John Holloway (Chief Executive Officer)

Highest reported compensation

  • John Holloway (Chief Executive Officer): $260,276 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Seattle Chamber Music Festival fosters the appreciation of chamber music by presenting performances featuring world-class musicians in accessible and inviting formats, with an emphasis on developing a broad-based sustainable audience through education and community outreach.

What it reported doing in 2024

Program Service 4: Seattle Chamber Music Society introduced year-round programming in 2022. This was a new project for SCMS and one that continues to bring many concerts to the Center of Chamber Music, at the Nordstrom Recital Hall and at Town Hall. Program Service 5: The SCMS Academy for Chamber Music offers high level training platforms for talented musicians in the Seattle and surrounding areas. An academy for adult muscians was added in 2025 to the existing youth program and a total of 129 participants were welcomed to study chamber music and perform in concerts and master classes during the spring and fall semesters in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 44
  • Transparency & Controls: 51
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 29.5%; rating input score 29
  • Program expense ratio: 64.1%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 55.6%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.6; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 29.5% of revenue deployed · 64.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 30 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $260K · 31 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $253K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 29/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.