South Carolina · Nonprofit
GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS
GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS (South Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $75,095 to it, the largest being THE JOLLEY FOUNDATION ($75,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2022
- $218k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $75k
- Net assets
- $-5536
What Greenville Light Opera Works does
Mission
Glow strives to be the country's most innovative leader in the fusion of opera, operetta and musical theatre. Glow seeks to produce nationally recognized work that is socially relevant, and serve as a unique example of utilizing theatre for social change.
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Program
Due to the pandemic, glow was forced to cancel its 10th anniversary season in the summer of 2020. However, through a significant effort led by our covid consultant of mandatory vaccinations, weekly testing, reduced and socially distanced seating coupled with mask mandates for our audiences, glow was able to produce a downsized season in august of 2021. This season, while smaller in scope, was artistically in critically successful. Sadly, the delta variant outbreak two weeks before opening had a negative impact on our program revenue for the year.
$300,124 spent$55,945 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2022 Form 990. Program spending in total: $300,124.
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 2018 to 2019, from $28k to $57k (+103%).
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: 2019 5% · 2020 5% · 2021 1% · 2022 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS’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. 2 of the last 6 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
Dr Christian Elser
Executive director
As listed on its FY2022 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $25k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS’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
GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS's grant income comes from South Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $95 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
GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS has grown faster than half of the 15,683 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,683 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2022
Government funding GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $60k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$60k
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 GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS
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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS: 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 GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS?
- GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS (South Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $75,095 to it, the largest being THE JOLLEY FOUNDATION ($75,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $75,095 in grants to GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS?
- THE JOLLEY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $75,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREENVILLE LIGHT OPERA WORKS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 Greenville Light Opera Works →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 2 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