Michigan · Nonprofit
MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA
MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,300 to it, the largest being COMERICA CHARITABLE TRUST ($115,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $127k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $189k
- Net assets
- $86k
What Motor City Lyric Opera does
Mission
Use the arts to elevate, inspire, and educate. Nurture a culture of artistic experiences for school children, families, and underserved community members.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Program
To inspire and educate students and families in the metropolitan detroit area, through highly artistic musical presentations. We believe that the expression of the arts is a humanistic universal right that transcends social and economic boundaries, and should be available to everyone.
$62,113 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $62,113.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $53k to $86k (+61%).
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.
93% of MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA’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. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $10k → $40k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA’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
MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
61% 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 MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 94% · 2022 57% · 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.
Where its funders are
61% of MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $74k that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $115k 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
MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
96%
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 MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA: 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 MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA?
- MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $189,300 to it, the largest being COMERICA CHARITABLE TRUST ($115,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $189,300 in grants to MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA?
- COMERICA CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $115,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MOTOR CITY LYRIC OPERA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Motor City Lyric Opera →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 6 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