South Florida Symphony Orchestra Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 650846695
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
- Phone
- 9545228445
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Symphony Orchestras
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,715,488
- Expenses
- $4,101,739
- Assets
- $122,561
- Liabilities
- $3,085,661
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JACQUELINE LORBER (PRESIDENT &)
Highest reported compensation
- SEBRINA ALFONSO (ARTISTIC DIR): $88,603 total reported compensation
- JACQUELINE LORBER (PRESIDENT &): $85,334 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 orchestra is dedicated to bringing orchestral music of the highest caliber to south Florida. Its mission is to delight, inspire and educate the communities we serve through music.
What it reported doing in 2024
During fy25, the south Florida symphony orchestra presented a series of five masterworks concerts through 13 performances, plus a large-scale holiday concert performed twice; all concerts featured world-class soloists and musicians and were attended by more than 24,500 patrons and students in broward, miami-dade, and monroe counties. Artistic highlights of the season included a staged concert version of bernstein's candide, performed across three venues with full chorus and cast, and mozart's requiem, performed with the south Florida symphony chorus. The season featured acclaimed soloists including benjamin hochman, piano; amy shoremount-obra, soprano; and catherine lan, piano, among others. The symphony in the schools program engaged more than 5,000 students from underserved communities through live orchestral performances, including productions of "preserving our coral reef- and "peter and the wolf" presented at venues across broward, miami-dade, and monroe counties. Through the organization's partnership with junior achievement, an additional 19,000 broward county public school 5th graders engaged with the performing arts through the ja biztown program. Community engagement programming included "community beats," bringing free pops concerts to unexpected community spaces, including the city of weston town center amphitheater. In addition, the sfso continued its role as a cultural leader and economic driver in the region. As the largest orchestral employer in south Florida, the organization generates employment for nearly 300 musicians, production staff, and arts administrators annually. The sfso continues to have an immeasurable effect on the communities it serves.
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 97% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 68
- Sustainability: 8
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 73.5%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -51%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 25.18; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.2%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $89K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.