Iowa · Nonprofit
DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC
DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC (Iowa) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,007,074 to it, the largest being LAURIDSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,200,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.1M
- Funders on record
- 58
- Grants received
- $6.0M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Des Moines Metro Opera Inc does
Mission
To create distinctive theatrical experiences and inspirational learning opportunities for artists and audiences of the 21st century.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Production of professional opera for the enrichment and enjoyment of general audiences including 21 performances of 5 productions in repertory during the summer festival.
$4,500,062 spent$765,168 earned by the program87% of program spendingEducational initiatives including internships, apprenticeships, touring program, workshops, and performances.
$574,228 spent11% of program spendingDinners, concessions and retail services are sold as a visitor service during the summer festival season in the theater lobby. Dinners are catered by a local restaurant, wine, soft drinks and snacks are sold at concession stands, and items related to opera are sold at a small boutique.
$102,601 spent$156,183 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,176,891.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2020 to 2021, from $5.3M to $7.2M (+37%).
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: 2017 6% · 2018 8% · 2019 9% · 2020 8% · 2021 18% · 2022 12% · 2023 6% · 2024 5% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $243k → $1.2M.
10 of 58 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20M from 6 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Des Moines Metro Opera Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC raised.
From the IRS filings of DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 funders by total. 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
DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 39% · 2019 28% · 2020 17% · 2021 16% · 2022 15% · 2023 32% — 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.
How long its funders stay
67% of DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
83% of DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $701k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 states 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
DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC's funding base is broadening — from 15 funders to 34 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $327k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$327k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC
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 Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Des Moines Metro Opera Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC: 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 DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC?
- DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC (Iowa) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,007,074 to it, the largest being LAURIDSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,200,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC have?
- IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $6,007,074 in grants to DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC?
- LAURIDSEN FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Des Moines Metro Opera →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 58 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing