New York · Nonprofit
BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED
BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED (New York) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $186,760 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ($73,260). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $260k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $187k
- Net assets
- $2k
What Buffalo Opera Unlimited Incorporated does
Mission
Buffalo Opera Unlimited (BOU) is dedicated to producing professional opera and a variety of other musical forms with an emphasis on regional artists. BOU is also committed to making opera more accessible to a broader audience and to providing education to develop future audiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Opera on Tap is an intimate, casual performance series held at Resurgence Brewing Company on Chicago St. in Buffalo, featuring live arias and scenes in a relaxed pub setting. The February 8, 2025 performance featured highlights from famous operas, specifically La Traviata and Die Fledermaus and included 9 professional artists. Audience numbered 104.
$3,682 spent$2,375 earned by the program1% of program spendingBuffalo Opera Unlimited (BOU) performed Adolphus Hailstorks Joshuas Boots in 2025 as a featured part of their 40th-anniversary season, presenting it as a "real Western" opera designed for audiences of all ages. The performances took place on May 30 and 31, 2025, at the First Shiloh Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY. Production included 35 artists. Audience numbered 366.
$58,518 spent$7,406 earned by the program24% of program spendingBuffalo Opera Unlimited (BOU) opened its 40th anniversary season with the fully staged performance of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci on September 26, 2025 and September 28, 2025. The production was noted for its "big voices" as well as creative staging at Rockwell Hall, Buffalo State University. Production included 63 artists. Audience numbered 580.
$97,544 spentof which $32,085 as grants$21,526 earned by the program40% of program spendingOther fees for services include management, general operating, and professional services (artistic director, marketing and development director, business manager).
$85,987 spent35% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $245,731.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $35k to $0 (−100%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2023 34% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Lee Ann Grace
Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $35k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 33% · 2022 69% · 2023 57% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
100% of BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $73k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED has grown faster than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED?
- BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED (New York) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $186,760 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC ($73,260). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $186,760 in grants to BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR GREATER BUFFALO INC is the largest funder on record, with $73,260 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUFFALO OPERA UNLIMITED INCORPORATED find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Buffalo Opera Unlimited →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 6 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing