California · Nonprofit
Merola Opera Program
Merola Opera Program (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,270,346 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($396,671). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.5M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $49M
What Merola Opera Program does
Mission
Merola Opera Program is a San Francisco-based training program for opera singers, pianists, and stage directors.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Merola Opera Program:the Merola Opera Program is a nationally recognized summer training program that selects approximately 30 emerging opera artists from over 1,300 applicants aged 20 to 34 through a competitive audition process. The 9- to 12-week program prepares participants for sustainable careers through vocal, dramatic, and professional development training. Merola enjoys a unique partnership with san francisco opera, where many alumni advance to the prestigious adler fellowship, and others join leading opera companies and training programs nationally and internationally. Participants receive housing, transportation, training, and a weekly stipend at no cost.
$2,597,224 spentof which $154,523 as grants$167,776 earned by the program100% of program spendingThe program integrates training in vocal style, role interpretation, acting, stagecraft, movement, conducting, prompting, languages, and career development, with a special focus on holistic artist preparation. Master classes led by internationally renowned faculty offer deep insight into the craft, while public performancesincluding fully staged operas, a scenes program, and the merola grand finaleallow participants to showcase their growth and talent to broad audiences.
Merola provides this training entirely free to participants, funded through the support of individual donors, foundations, and granting agencies. The program equips artists with a strong professional foundation and a clear path forward, supporting their career trajectories through post-program grants, mentorship, and a global alumni network.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,597,224.
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 $44M to $36M (−19%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 2% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
18% of Merola Opera Program’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. 2 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
Barbara Bruser Clark
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $61k → $272k.
12 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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: $1.0M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The San Francisco Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Merola Opera Program raised.
From the IRS filings of Merola Opera Program’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
Merola Opera Program has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
46% 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 Merola Opera Program.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 64% · 2019 35% · 2020 51% · 2021 31% · 2022 25% · 2023 18% — 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
32% of Merola Opera Program's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
95% of Merola Opera Program's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
Merola Opera Program runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Merola Opera Program
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 California
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
36%
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 Merola Opera Program: 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 Merola Opera Program?
- Merola Opera Program (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,270,346 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($396,671). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Merola Opera Program have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $2,270,346 in grants to Merola Opera Program, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Merola Opera Program?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $396,671 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Merola Opera Program find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Merola Opera Program →
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 36 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