The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is a non-profit cultural and educational organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1975 by Lola May Thompson and Patricia Whitacre with the mission of supporting the activities of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and incorporated in 1984. The sitting co-presidents are Carolynn Johnson and Katie Scarfone. It is one of the longest continuously operating auxiliary organizations for any professional American orchestra. The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra sponsors fundraising events, audience development events, classes in music appreciation, and biannual group tours of major musical centers in Europe.
The Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has won several awards from national arts organizations, the first one the 1996 "Outstanding Benefit of the Year" award from the League of American Orchestras for a fund-raising event organized by past presidents Kay Bendel and Betty Reichert in an airplane hangar in the downtown St. Paul airport. In 2003, the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra won a Silver Ribbon from the same organization for the classes in music appreciation that it offers to the public under the supervision of the musicologist Daniel E. Freeman.
With funding from the Patricia Whitacre Memorial Fund, the Friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has initiated a Youth Chamber Music Competition that will be held regularly beginning in February 2012.