Finance Score: -5

Governance Score: 6

Support Score: 11

Poor Liquidity: -1
Deficit on unrestricted reserves: -2
Pension deficit: -3
Multiple Deficits: -2
Fundraising costs low: +3

Good trustee age range: +3
Dynamic board: +3

Grant maker support: +11

Overall GiG Score: 12

CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Promoting concerts in Birmingham. Taking part in concerts at other venues in the UK and around the world. Broadcasting and recording work. Extensive education programme. Running 3 unpaid professional choruses and an auditioned youth choir in partnership with Birmingham Music Services. Management of CBSO Centre, the Orchestra's administration and rehearsal home and medium sized performance venue.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

Fundraising costs are unusually low relative to funds raised
A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government
The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

Over half the Board have joined recently

Financial issues to consider:

Liquidity appears to have been slender at the latest year end
There was a deficit on unrestricted reserves of £1,832,003 at the last year end after deducting the value of own use assets
There is a pension deficit of £5,202,000
On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending

Established: 47 years

www.cbso.co.uk

information@cbso.co.uk

01216166500

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E		Income £k	Spending £k	Surplus/ Deficit	Fundraising Cost £k	Total Funds £k	Unrestricted Funds £k	Mths Rsrvs	Staff	Volun- teers
31/03/23		£9,332	£11,767	£-2,435	£411	£1,171	£-1,832	-1.9	109	281
31/03/22		£9,272	£9,630	£-358	£284	£-1,197	£-4,451	-5.5	111	208
31/03/21		£6,881	£6,258	£623	£291	£-2,683	£-5,901	-11.3	103	208
31/03/20		£10,451	£10,898	£-447	£478	£-3,251	£-6,666	-7.3	109	377
31/03/19		£9,836	£9,827	£9	£461	£-2,817	£-6,423	-7.8	107	380
31/03/18		£8,745	£9,395	£-650	£409	£-2,338	£-6,162	-7.9	103	0
31/03/17		£9,006	£8,568	£438	£321	£-2,813	£-6,841	-9.6	104	0
31/03/16		£8,634	£8,736	£-102	£293	£614	£-3,633	-5	103	0
31/03/15		£9,935	£8,866	£1,069	£1,063	£706	£-3,712	-5	108	0
31/03/14		£10,003	£9,518	£485	£930	£430	£-3,063	-3.9	108	0
31/03/13		£8,513	£8,522	£-9	£923	£563	£-2,691	-3.8	106	0
31/03/12		£8,790	£8,625	£165	£848	£1,194	£-2,240	-3.1	109	0
31/03/11	*	£8,752	£8,835	£-82	£934	£2,245	£-1,276	-1.7	115	0
31/03/10		£9,781	£9,565	£215	£1,017	£2,258	£-1,333	-1.7	115	0
31/03/09		£9,493	£8,804	£689	£918	£3,245	£-384	-0.5	112	0
31/03/08		£8,163	£7,819	£344	£1,012	£3,106	£-566	-0.9	112	0
31/03/07		£7,884	£8,062	£-178	£171	£918	£-2,885	-4.3	114	0
31/03/06		£6,771	£7,459	£-688	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/05	*	£7,634	£7,779	£-145	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/04		£7,200	£7,219	£-19	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0

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Financial Ratios

Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 4.4%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 3.5%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 2%
Highest pay band: £100,000-£110,000
Liabilities/Assets: 29%
Liabilities/Income: 28%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: -156%
Reserves/Spending: -1.9 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 3 months
Quick Ratio: 0.2

Asset Split ?

Listed activities

Arts/Culture/Heritage/Science

How it operates

Other charitable activities

Where it operates

Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland, Throughout England And Wales, United States,

Who it helps

The General Public/Mankind

Who works here?

109 employees
281 volunteers

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years

DCMS	£1,327,750
Esmee Fairbairn	£198,000
John Ellerman Foundation	£150,000
Wolfson Foundation	£44,000

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£18,000	20/02/2023	Towards unrestricted core costs as a Cost of Living Uplift
DCMS - Investment funds
£4,750	01/06/2022	We are the national development agency for creativity and culture. By 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where ....more We are the national development agency for creativity and culture. By 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government to help deliver this vision.
The Foyle Foundation - Arts
£30,000	08/02/2022	towards a career development programme for emerging musicians, particularly Black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates, providing a supported route into an orchestral career and driving change ....more towards a career development programme for emerging musicians, particularly Black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates, providing a supported route into an orchestral career and driving change across the sector
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£180,000	14/09/2021 36	Towards project costs for a career development programme for emerging musicians, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, providing a supported route into an orchestral career.
Fenton Arts Trust - Grant to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)
£4,000	01/07/2021	An early career development programme for conductors, tailored to their individual skills and experiences.
DCMS - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£843,000	01/04/2020	To support Arts and Culture throughout England
DCMS - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£480,000	01/04/2020	To support Arts and Culture throughout England
John Ellerman Foundation - towards costs of a programme of commissioning new work
£150,000	25/07/2019 36	Towards the costs of 40 new commissions by emerging and established composers, to mark CBSO's centenary
Wolfson Foundation - Grant to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£44,000	13/06/2019	New instrument truck
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£30,000	14/09/2017	The CBSO and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla's first full season
Youth Music - Music & Ability
£87,631	28/10/2016	Music & Ability
Birmingham City Council - Cbso Revenue
£900,000	01/04/2016	CBSO REVENUE; Arts and culture;
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
£307,938	06/02/2012	Towards a programme to develop the Centre and organisation's work.

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Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (12)

Current Trustees appointed

Age Range of Trustees: 23-73

ANDREW HERBERT Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Professional Musician

ANTHONY WILLIAM HALL Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Chair Person, Other trusteeships: OXFORD PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA TRUST, PAUL HAMLYN FOUNDATION,

CATHERINE WALL Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Retired Company Director

CHRIS LOUGHRAN Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Business Adviser

DARIUS SINGH SANDHU Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Councillor

ELIZABETH CLEMENTS Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Councillor

EMILY CLAIRE AN-LI INGRAM Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Entrepreneur

GURPREET BHATIA Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Solicitor, Other trusteeship: LEGACY WM,

HELEN EDGAR Appointed: 2020, Occupation: Professional Musician

JANE FIELDING Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Lawyer

JULIA PARKE-ROBINSON Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Chief Security Officer

SUNDASH KUMARI JASSI Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Chartered Accountant

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 04/05/1977, number: 506276
Registered at Companies House on 07/06/1976, number: 01262018

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Filing Record

20 returns made; AR11: 0 days late, AR05: 26 days late,

Recent reorganisation events:

Asset transfer in from CITY OF BIRMINGHAM ORCHESTRAL ENDOWMENT FUND on 09/04/2024

Main office

C B S O
BERKLEY STREET
BIRMINGHAM
B1 2LF

Objectives

TO PROMOTE, MAINTAIN OR IMPROVE MUSICAL EDUCATION AND TO ENCOURAGE THE ARTS, OF MUSIC, MIME, DRAMA, SINGING AND DANCING. (FOR FURTHER DETAILS SEE CLAUSE 3 OF THE MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION).

Defined Area of Benefit:

NOT DEFINED

Data Sources