Delaware · Nonprofit
GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC
GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC (Delaware) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,224,353 to it, the largest being DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($2,392,393). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $8.2M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Grand Opera House Inc does
Mission
The grand entertains, engages, and enriches our community with diverse live performances and educational programs in a welcoming, patron-centered environment. As proud stewards, we celebrate our cherished historic theaters that create economic vitality and lift the human spirit.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Grand opera house, inc. Strives to expand people's horizons by presenting a wide variety of artistically acclaimed performers and by preserving one of delaware's architectural landmarks.its programming reflects and celebrates the cultural diversity of the community and provides educational opportunities, helping to ensure culturally literate future generations of audiences. By maintaining its architectural integrity, technical excellence, and commitment to serve as the venue of choice for delaware's performing arts organizations, the grand exerts a continuing influence on the revitalization of downtown wilmington, delaware, and enhances the cultural resources of the brandywine valley, and remains a nationally acclaimed restored historic theater.in january 2015, the grand opera house assumed operations of another historic theater in downtown wilmington, the dupont theatre (which was renamed the playhouse on rodney square). The playhouse opened in 1913 as one of the select theaters across the country to be included on the broadway touring circuit. Now more than 100 years old, the playhouse is the oldest, continuously-operating theater on the national circuit. Although the grand…
$7,236,048 spent$5,901,329 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,236,048.
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 2021 to 2022, from $15M to $18M (+23%).
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: 2022 71% · 2023 19% · 2024 5% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Chief executive
Francis J Skip Pennella
Executive director
Board chair
Roger D Kirtley
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $1.6M → $256k.
5 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
55% 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 GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 37% · 2019 46% · 2020 85% · 2021 51% · 2022 46% · 2023 45% — broadly stable.
“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
60% of GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
77% of GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC's grant income comes from Delaware funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $8.2M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.0M on record — $78k federal, $7.9M state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$78k
- GRANTS$7.8M
- STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$122k
- GRANTS IN AID$2k
- STUDENT TRAVEL$2k
- ARTIST IN EDUCATION$2k
- INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES$985
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 GRAND OPERA HOUSE 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 Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
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
- Delaware Performing Arts Center Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GRAND OPERA HOUSE 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 GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC?
- GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC (Delaware) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,224,353 to it, the largest being DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($2,392,393). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $8,224,353 in grants to GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC?
- DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,392,393 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GRAND OPERA HOUSE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 Grand Opera House →
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 31 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