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Wisconsin · Nonprofit

MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE

MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE (Wisconsin) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $198,408 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($77,550). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$128k
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$198k
Net assets
$232k
4/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 39%
01What it does

What Milwaukee Opera Theatre does

Mission

Performing arts

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. The past fiscal year, Milwaukee Opera Theatre has produced three mainstage operas: alcina, rusalka, and camille's rainbow. We were proud to partner with early music now, who provided instrumentalists familiar with the baroque period, for alcina; additionally, danceworks, who added dancers to our adaptation of the traditional czech opera; and we were excited to bring opera to children ages 0-4 in camille's rainbow.

    $54,377 spent
    83% of program spending
  2. We have three longstanding educational initiatives that we are dedicated to: a monthly vocal workshop called voice lab, offered free of charge to anyone in the community, and two in-school initiatives: our longstanding script & score program with parkside school for the arts, helping 6th graders write their own opera based on their school curriculum, and the relatively new supreme creativity studio with mps neeskara school, helping 5th graders write an inspirational class song.

    $11,414 spent
    17% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $65,791.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($98k) Expenses 100 ($81k) Net assets 100 ($74k)2018 Revenue 70 ($68k) Expenses 82 ($67k) Net assets 102 ($75k)2019 Revenue 103 ($101k) Expenses 105 ($86k) Net assets 123 ($90k)2020 Revenue 103 ($101k) Expenses 105 ($85k) Net assets 144 ($106k)2021 Revenue 105 ($103k) Expenses 64 ($52k) Net assets 213 ($157k)2022 Revenue 118 ($115k) Expenses 125 ($102k) Net assets 231 ($171k)2023 Revenue 116 ($113k) Expenses 124 ($101k) Net assets 248 ($183k)2024 Revenue 120 ($117k) Expenses 128 ($104k) Net assets 267 ($197k)2025 Revenue 131 ($128k) Expenses 108 ($87k) Net assets 315 ($232k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (131)Expenses (108)Net assets (315)Peer revenue range

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 $106k to $157k (+48%).

$74k
$75k
$92k
$106k
$157k
$172k
$184k
$201k
$232k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

87% of MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,618 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$17k
’17
$1k
’18
$15k
’19
$15k
’20
$51k
’21
$13k
’22
$12k
’23
$14k
’24
$41k
’25

Leadership and staff

Chief executive

Jill Anna Ponasik

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $43k.

3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE’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

MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

97% 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 MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE.

39%
largest funder
92%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 37% · 2021 51% · 2022 78% · 2023 38% — 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

80% of MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

71% of MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.

IL
WI
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Wisconsin out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $88k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin32% · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE

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 Wisconsin

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

WI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE: 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.

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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 MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE?
MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE (Wisconsin) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $198,408 to it, the largest being GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC ($77,550). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $198,408 in grants to MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE?
GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $77,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Milwaukee Opera Theatre →

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 8 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