Texas · Nonprofit
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 144 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,585,801 to it, the largest being THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC ($10,250,000). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $35M
- Funders on record
- 144
- Grants received
- $64M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Houston Grand Opera Association Inc does
Mission
The mission of HGO is to enrich our diverse community through the art of opera. We will do so by creating, curating, exploring, and producing outstanding experiences centered around the human voice.(Continued on Schedule O)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Opera Productions: Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is one of the largest, most innovative, and most highly acclaimed opera companies in the United States. In fulfilling its mission to enrich our diverse community through the art of operas by creating, curating, exploring, and producing outstanding experiences centered around the human voice, HGO has led the field in commissioning new works (76 world premieres to date) and in training and nurturing promising young artists and administrators. The company builds its repertoire with the community in mind, striving to create profoundly enriching experiences for our diverse audiences, both in the Wortham Theater and in community venues.
$25,420,409 spent$6,693,981 earned by the program89% of program spendingThe Sarah & Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio is one of the most respected young artist programs in the country. For more than thirty years it has served young singers and pianist/coaches, providing a bridge between full-time training and full-fledged operatic careers. Each year after an exhaustive international search, a hand-selected group of talented individuals is brought to Houston to work alongside the best in the business at Houston Grand Opera. In main-stage productions and at other less traditional venues, these artists hone their craft as singing actors. During a residency of up to three years, each performer receives customized training from an expert team while gaining invaluable performance experience at the highest level.
$1,875,444 spentof which $123,385 as grants$5,085 earned by the program7% of program spendingThe Community & Learning program connects creative resources with our diverse and vibrant community through collaborative programming in the Houston area - in schools, parks, community landmarks, alternative performance spaces, as well as at the Wortham Theater Center, providing the opportunity to seek, engage, and learn through opera. The nationally recognized Song of Houston initiative commissions new chamber operas and song projects that resonate with contemporary life in Houston and develops community projects that foster collaborations with many Houston-area organizations. Continued on Schedule O. Our multi-faceted Education Program includes Opera to Go!, High School Night and student matinees of main-stage productions, the Bauer Family High School Voice Studio, professional development workshops for teachers, opera camps, and residency programs.
$1,314,986 spent$48,568 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,610,839.
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 $19M to $25M (+34%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2021 18% · 2022 4% · 2023 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of Houston Grand Opera Association Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% 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.
Chief executive
Khori Dastoor
General Director & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 43 funders to 69 funders, grant income rose $5.2M → $6.0M.
17 of 144 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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: $35M from 12 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Houston Grand Opera Endowment Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Houston Grand Opera Association Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Houston Grand Opera Association Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 144 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
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% 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
29% 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 Houston Grand Opera Association Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 23% · 2019 39% · 2020 18% · 2021 22% · 2022 15% · 2023 15% — 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
59% of Houston Grand Opera Association Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
92% of Houston Grand 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. $15M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc's funding base is broadening — from 43 funders to 69 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Houston Grand Opera Association Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$645k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$385k
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 Houston Grand 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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Houston Grand Opera Endowment Inc · exempt
- Houston Grand Opera Guild Inc · exempt
- Wortham Center Operating Company · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Houston Grand 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 Houston Grand Opera Association Inc?
- Houston Grand Opera Association Inc (Texas) receives grants from 144 organizations whose IRS filings report $63,585,801 to it, the largest being THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC ($10,250,000). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Houston Grand Opera Association Inc have?
- IRS filings report 144 organizations giving $63,585,801 in grants to Houston Grand Opera Association Inc, 101 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Houston Grand Opera Association Inc?
- THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $10,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Houston Grand 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 Houston Grand 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 144 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