FINANCIAL REPORT
The 2025 Fiscal Year( year ended August 31, 2025) and current 2026 Fiscal Year( year began September 1, 2025) contribute to a larger multi-year framework focused on revenue growth, strategic cost management, and long-term financial health.
In FY2024, the Baltimore Symphony Endowment Trust( BSET) authorized a special distribution to bridge persistent revenue-expense gaps in the organization’ s multi-year recovery from the pandemic. Thanks in part to an allocation from that special distribution, the forecast pre-audit result for FY2025 is essentially balanced.
Beyond the operating budget, the fiscal year was marked by:
• Strategic investments in the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, including comprehensive Mechanical, Electric, and Plumbing( MEP), Americans with Disabilities Act( ADA), and Envelope studies, as well as the next phase in a back-of-house modernization plan focusing on the Zamoiski Room and Musicians’ Lounge. These projects were supported by designated public capital grants and private philanthropy, as well as an annual draw from the dedicated Joseph Meyerhoff Maintenance Fund within the BSET.
• Generous philanthropy to the Endowment, with $ 3.4 million in general endowment and $ 1.2 million in restricted OrchKids Fund endowment gifts and / or pledge payments received during the year. As of July 31, 2025, the BSET had a combined market value of $ 79.8 million across several funds. The annual draw from the BSET remains a 5 % operating draw calculated on a threeyear rolling average.
The Board-approved FY2026 budget of $ 36 million is balanced but will require extraordinary actions in earned and contributed revenues, inclusive of the first year of the new Orchestra contract raising minimum musician pay by 3 % over FY2025.
As a non-profit organization, the BSO makes its consolidated Audited Financial Statements and Form 990s available to the public. Read more at BSOmusic. org / Reports.
BY THE NUMBERS
11,833Volunteer Hours from 217Volunteers
Payouts to Maryland
FT / PT Staff Including
$ 5.8M Businesses and 304 Orchestra and OrchKids Independent Contractors
16 BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA