The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 721189023
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- New Orleans, LA, USA
- Phone
- 5045236530
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Symphony Orchestras
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,587,197
- Expenses
- $5,499,526
- Assets
- $4,896,811
- Liabilities
- $1,876,885
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
41 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HANNAH YIM (ORCHESTRA VICE PRESIDENT)
- JOHN REEKS (ORCHESTRA PRESIDENT)
- CHARLOTTE LEWIS (BOARD VICE PRESIDENT)
- AMY FERGUSON (VOLUNTEER PRESIDENT)
- DWIGHT MCGHEE (PAST PRESIDENT)
- BERNIE JAFFE (BOARD PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- ANWAR NASIR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $158,110 total reported compensation
- MATTHEW KRAEMER (MUSIC DIRECTOR): $124,606 total reported compensation
- HANNAH YIM (ORCHESTRA VICE PRESIDENT): $49,058 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 Louisiana philharmonic orchestra's mission is to transform people and communities through music.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Louisiana philharmonic orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra presenting 100 performances a year and our programming fills a void in education and community services with regard to orchestral music exposure and hands-on interaction with or beside orchestral musicians. We pride ourselves on developing programs that are responsive to identified community needs for life-affirming arts and arts-integrated programming at little or no cost. Lpo programming also supports youth development both in and through the arts, an approach to learning correlated with cognitive, emotional, and social growth and measurable student achievement.
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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $17.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th 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: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 71.1%; rating input score 71; 11th 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: -19.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.89; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.8%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 27 of 38 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $158K · 41 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 13 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.