Opera America Inc
New York, NY · EIN 20-3520577. Reported 113 grants totalling $2,620,180 to 62 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Opera America Inc, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A03) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 62 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 22% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $21,500. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $27,500; the smallest was $5,100 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
65 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,347,600 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Opera | Detroit, MI | $162,500 | 4 | 2 | 2023 |
| Los Angeles Opera Company | Los Angeles, CA | $160,600 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Opera Parallele | San Francisco, CA | $141,300 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Beth Morrison Projects | Brooklyn, NY | $107,750 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lake George Opera Festival Association Inc | Saratoga Spgs, NY | $101,180 | 4 | 2 | 2023 |
| San Diego Opera Association | San Diego, CA | $100,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Pittsburgh Opera Inc | Pittsburgh, PA | $93,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| American Lyric Theater Center Inc | New York, NY | $88,500 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Houston Grand Opera Association Inc | Houston, TX | $77,000 | 6 | 4 | 2024 |
| Glimmerglass Opera Theatre Inc | Cooperstown, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Opera Omaha Inc | Omaha, NE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Portland Opera Association Inc | Portland, OR | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| White Snake Projects Inc | Brookline, MA | $63,300 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Opera Birmingham | Birmingham, AL | $59,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Anchorage Opera Company | Anchorage, AK | $58,300 | 2 | 1 | 2020 |
| San Francisco Opera Association | San Francisco, CA | $57,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Virginia Opera Assoc Inc | Norfolk, VA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Experiments in Opera | Brooklyn, NY | $48,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Baltimore Concert Opera Inc | Baltimore, MD | $48,300 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The Santa Fe Opera | Santa Fe, NM | $47,300 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pensacola Opera Inc | Pensacola, FL | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| New Orleans Opera Association | New Orleans, LA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Opera Southwest | Albuquerque, NM | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bard College | Annandale, NY | $35,625 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Odyssey Opera of Boston Inc | Malden, MA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Opera on Tap | Brooklyn, NY | $34,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| The in Series Inc | Washington, DC | $32,200 | 3 | 2 | 2021 |
| Knoxville Opera Company | Knoxville, TN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Opera Praktikos | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Des Moines Metro Opera Inc | Indianola, IA | $29,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| American Opera Projects Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $28,000 | 3 | 2 | 2024 |
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $27,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Opera Theatre of Saint Louis | Saint Louis, MO | $27,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Spoleto Festival U S a | Charleston, SC | $27,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Long Beach Opera | Long Beach, CA | $26,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Opera Ebony Inc | New York, NY | $26,375 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Association for the Development of Vocal Artistry and Neighborhood | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Boston Lyric Opera Company Inc | Boston, MA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kentucky Opera Association Inc | Louisville, KY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lighthouse Opera Company | Bronx, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| On Site Opera Inc | New York, NY | $24,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cincinnati Opera Association | Cincinnati, OH | $23,300 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Massopera | Salem, MA | $23,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Chicago Opera Theater | Chicago, IL | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Various Organizations (grants Under 5000) | $21,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 | |
| Opera Grants for Directorsconductors | $21,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 | |
| International Brazilian Opera Company | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tulsa Opera Inc | Tulsa, OK | $18,400 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Opera Cultura | San Jose, CA | $17,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Harlem Opera Theater Inc | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| New Music Theatre Project Inc | Long Is City, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Opera Hispanica Inc | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Opera San Jose | San Jose, CA | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Amanda&james Incorporated | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Center for Contemporary Opera | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Utah Symphony & Opera | Salt Lake Cty, UT | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| New Performance Traditions | San Francisco, CA | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Opera Colorado Foundation | Englewood, CO | $7,750 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Finger Lakes Opera Inc | Rochester, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Florida Grand Opera Inc | Miami, FL | $6,400 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Arizona Opera Company | Phoenix, AZ | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Boston Baroque Inc | Boston, MA | $5,100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
22 of 62 (35%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Opera Birmingham
OPERA GRANTS FOR WOMEN COMPOSERS COMMISSIONING - Opera Prakitkos
NYC SMALL OPERA REGRANTING PROGRAM - Various Organizations (grants Under 5000)
OPERA GRANTS FOR DIRECTORS/CONDUCTORS - 6 RECIPIENTS - Detroit Opera
OPERA GRANT FOR DIRECTORS & CONDUCTORS - Houston Grand Opera
OPERA GRANTS FOR WOMEN CONDUCTORS & DIRECTORS - Michigan Opera Theatre
OPERA GRANTS FOR FEMALE CONDUCTORS & DIRECTORS
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 54 of 62 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 27 | $897,980 | $23,300 |
| 2021 | 21 | $374,600 | $12,500 |
| 2022 | 25 | $524,100 | $22,500 |
| 2023 | 26 | $508,500 | $20,000 |
| 2024 | 14 | $315,000 | $23,250 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
29% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $21,500 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Opera America Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 19 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY, 10001.
EIN 20-3520577 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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