Chicago Symphony Orchestra: $80.8M Revenue, $85.6M Expenses

Chicago Symphony Orchestra pulls a D on the efficiency rubric. The composite of 46/100 reflects below-median performance on the bundle of factors — typically driven by thin operating reserves, volatile revenue, or outsized officer compensation relative to organizational size.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra reported $80.8M in 2023 revenue — a mid-sized nonprofit by U.S. standards. Organizations in this bracket typically operate with a small permanent staff, project-based program structures, and modest reserves. Reserves are the limiting factor: Chicago Symphony Orchestra carries relatively few months of operating expenses on its balance sheet, which can leave an organization exposed if a major funding source pauses.

Five-year revenue has grown modestly. Chicago Symphony Orchestra is not expanding rapidly but is not shrinking either; the trajectory is consistent with stable donor and grant relationships. Compensation for current officers and key employees runs $2.1M against $80.8M in revenue — within the band third-party charity raters typically consider reasonable for an organization of this size and complexity. This is an aggregate across all listed officers, not a single executive's salary. Chicago Symphony Orchestra sits in the cultural-nonprofit sector (Arts, Culture & Humanities). Museum, performing-arts, and cultural organizations carry distinctive financial patterns — earned revenue from ticket sales and admissions, plus a heavy reliance on endowment income and major donor cycles.