Tennessee · Nonprofit
KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY
KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY (Tennessee) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,461,709 to it, the largest being THE ASLAN FOUNDATION ($479,258). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Knoxville Opera Company does
Mission
Performance of opera and musicals
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Knoxville opera is engaged in the performance of opera and musical productions in the east tennessee area. Expenses were incurred relating to eight performances of three major productions and 50+ community engagement events which were completed in the year ended june 30, 2025.
$1,582,472 spentof which $232,250 as grants$760,451 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,582,472.
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 $1.3M to $1.5M (+20%).
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 24% · 2018 21% · 2019 25% · 2020 30% · 2021 40% · 2022 60% · 2023 21% · 2024 18% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Allison Easterday Alexander
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 10 funders, grant income fell $295k → $139k.
7 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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: $374k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville). These are real filings, and they are not money KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY raised.
From the IRS filings of KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY’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
KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% 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
47% 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 KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 56% · 2019 41% · 2020 52% · 2021 39% · 2022 74% · 2023 63% — growing more concentrated.
“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
50% of KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
99% of KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $688k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1.5M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$46k
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 KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY
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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY: 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 KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY?
- KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY (Tennessee) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,461,709 to it, the largest being THE ASLAN FOUNDATION ($479,258). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,461,709 in grants to KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY?
- THE ASLAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $479,258 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KNOXVILLE OPERA COMPANY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Knoxville Opera Company →
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 21 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