Seattle Symphony

Legal name: Seattle Symphony Orchestra Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
910667412
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
206.215.4832
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Symphony Orchestras

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$38,088,654
Expenses
$40,232,219
Assets
$18,381,220
Liabilities
$15,994,464

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

Leadership & pay

51 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KRISHNA THIAGARAJAN (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • MARIA YANG (ACTING CEO & VP OF DEVELOPMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISHNA THIAGARAJAN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $544,333 total reported compensation
  • NOAH GELLER (CONCERTMASTER): $350,722 total reported compensation
  • CHERONNE WONG (CFO & BENAROYA HALL COO): $323,806 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 Seattle Symphony is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID# 91-0667412.

What it reported doing in 2024

For educational and community engagement programming in addition to digital content delivered through the streaming platform, attendance in the 24/25 season saw 35,609 students and families over 180 events including offsite events throughout the puget sound region. Program highlights include pre-concert talks, family and tiny tots concerts, link up (an interactive concert experience for elementary schools), musicians classrooms visits, open rehearsals, career in the arts panels, free side-by-side performances with local youth orchestras and community concerts, community stages fund awardees performances, young artist concerto audition and the young composers workshop.

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 99% 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: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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; 66th 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: -5.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.87; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 78.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 36 of 36 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $31.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $544K · 51 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.