San Francisco Symphony: $71.1M Revenue, $80.9M Expenses

San Francisco Symphony pulls a D on the efficiency rubric. The composite of 45/100 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.

At $71.1M in 2023 revenue, San Francisco Symphony sits in the mid-range of the U.S. nonprofit distribution. Most organizations of this scale operate regionally or focus on a single program area. On the financial-health factor, San Francisco Symphony runs thin — assets relative to annual spending fall below the cushion nonprofit-finance experts typically recommend.

Five-year revenue trend is mildly negative: a modest decline that could reflect grant-cycle timing, donor turnover, or program wind-down. Worth checking against the program-spending pattern to see whether the decline is structural. Officer compensation is modest relative to organizational size: San Francisco Symphony reports $597,451 in total compensation for current officers and key employees (Form 990 Part IX, line 5) against $71.1M in revenue. The ratio is well within the bands third-party charity raters consider reasonable at this scale. San Francisco Symphony 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.