Texas · Nonprofit
Fort Worth Opera Association Inc
Fort Worth Opera Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,714,665 to it, the largest being HATTIE MAE LESLEY FOUNDATION INC ($725,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 48
- Grants received
- $6.7M
- Net assets
- $18k
What Fort Worth Opera Association Inc does
Mission
The mission of Fort Worth Opera is to enrich peoples lives with performances and programs that educate entertain inspire and expand the horizons of current and future audiences. Fort Worth Opera is committed to producing opera of the highest possible artistic quality and integrity; to identifying and training talented young American singers; to serving as a crucible for creating new American operas; to joining forces with other arts organizations in significant collaborations; and to stimulating curiosity and creativity in people of all ages through its Education Program.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Fort Worth Operas programming engages audiences through a balanced season of compelling mainstage productions. During the 2024-25 season the company presented a dynamic blend of classical repertoire with its mainstage featuring Gioachino Rossinis La Cenerentola Cinderella alongside composer-librettist Mark Adamos adaptation of Louisa May Alcotts beloved coming-of-age novel Little Women offering audiences both the energy of operatic tradition and the emotional immediacy of modern storytelling. The season also included the prestigious biennial McCammon Voice Competition reinforcing Fort Worth Operas role as a national leader in the discovery and development of emerging vocal talent.
$1,076,418 spent73% of program spendingFWOs education department not only includes the Childrens Opera Theatre in existence for over 30 yrs but also Civic Impact and Engagement performances too. This allows FWO to not only reach children in area schools but also at events both adults and children are gathered. This years education & outreach fall shows were Frida Kahlo and the bravest girl in the world and Three Little Pigs. Also FWO produced a 90-minute English adaptation of Gaetano Donizettis The Elixir of Love featuring the Resident Artists. The project gave students hands-on exposure to opera as a theatrical and musical art form emphasizing collaboration creativity and professional practice. A holiday classic Amahl and the Night Visitors was also presented.
$283,689 spent19% of program spendingThe Fort Worth Opera Studio founded in 2002 includes four young Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artists chosen each year from national auditions to be in residence with Fort Worth Opera in order to continue their training as they prepare for professional careers. They perform in the FWO childrens Opera Theater in addition to roles in our main productions and civic impact shows. Additionally these young artists receive lessons and coaching language and movement classes as well as classes on Opera as a business.
$118,889 spent8% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,478,996.
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 2023 to 2024, from $614k to $1.2M (+93%).
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 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 2% · 2020 17% · 2021 19% · 2022 24% · 2023 21% · 2024 3% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of Fort Worth Opera Association 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. 6 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.
Board chair
Randy Sabbagh
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $287k → $871k.
5 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Fort Worth Opera Association Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 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
Fort Worth Opera Association Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 18% · 2019 19% · 2020 12% · 2021 16% · 2022 14% · 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
45% of Fort Worth Opera Association Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
78% of Fort Worth Opera Association Inc's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $663k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Fort Worth Opera Association Inc's funding base is broadening — from 13 funders to 22 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Fort Worth Opera Association Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 Fort Worth Opera Association 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
46%
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
- Fort Worth Opera Endowment · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Fort Worth Opera Association 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 Fort Worth Opera Association Inc?
- Fort Worth Opera Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,714,665 to it, the largest being HATTIE MAE LESLEY FOUNDATION INC ($725,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Fort Worth Opera Association Inc have?
- IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $6,714,665 in grants to Fort Worth Opera Association Inc, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Fort Worth Opera Association Inc?
- HATTIE MAE LESLEY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $725,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Fort Worth Opera Association Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Fort Worth Opera Association →
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 48 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