Opera America Inc
New York, NY · EIN 20-3520577. Reported 99 grants totalling $2,305,180 to 58 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, 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. 58 distinct organizations, with 7% 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. 24% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $21,000. 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.
51 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,032,600 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 | $140,600 | 7 | 3 | 2023 |
| Opera Parallele | San Francisco, CA | $111,300 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Lake George Opera Festival Association Inc | Saratoga Spgs, NY | $101,180 | 4 | 2 | 2023 |
| Pittsburgh Opera Inc | Pittsburgh, PA | $93,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Beth Morrison Projects | Brooklyn, NY | $90,750 | 5 | 3 | 2023 |
| American Lyric Theater Center Inc | New York, NY | $88,500 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| 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 |
| San Diego Opera Association | San Diego, CA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Houston Grand Opera Association Inc | Houston, TX | $67,500 | 5 | 3 | 2022 |
| Opera Birmingham | Birmingham, AL | $59,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Anchorage Opera Company | Anchorage, AK | $58,300 | 2 | 1 | 2020 |
| Virginia Opera Assoc Inc | Norfolk, VA | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| 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 |
| Odyssey Opera of Boston Inc | Malden, MA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Opera on Tap | Brooklyn, NY | $34,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| White Snake Projects Inc | Brookline, MA | $33,300 | 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 |
| 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 |
| Association for the Development of Vocal Artistry and Neighborhood | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| 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 |
| Opera Grants for Directorsconductors | $21,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 | |
| Experiments in Opera | Brooklyn, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| International Brazilian Opera Company | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Opera Ebony Inc | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| American Opera Projects Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $18,500 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| 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 |
18 of 58 (31%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 - 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 - American Opera Projects
NEW WORKS FEATURE PRESENTATION
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 51 of 58 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- 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 |
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
28% 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 the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
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 $21,000 -- 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.
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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 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 26 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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