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North Carolina · Nonprofit

NORTH CAROLINA OPERA

NORTH CAROLINA OPERA (North Carolina) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,247 to it, the largest being JOHN WILLIAM POPE FOUNDATION ($145,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.6M
Funders on record
22
Grants received
$640k
Net assets
$332k
12/22 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 12%
01What it does

What North Carolina Opera does

Mission

The mission of North Carolina Opera is to enhance the cultural life in the triangle by presenting the highest possible quality professional opera performances, developing and increasing an appreciation of the opera art form in the area, and providing local artists with the opportunity to develop their talent.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. North Carolina Opera's mainstage productions are fully-staged, semi-staged and concert performances of both classical and contemporary operatic repertoire, featuring both internationally acclaimed and promising local artists.

    $1,441,626 spent$523,602 earned by the program
    99% of program spending
  2. North Carolina Opera offers outreach performances to both schoolchildren and adults.

    $13,582 spent
    1% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,455,208.

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 ($1.4M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets -76 ($-59904)2018 Revenue 90 ($1.3M) Expenses 91 ($1.4M) Net assets -219 ($-171509)2019 Revenue 103 ($1.5M) Expenses 79 ($1.2M) Net assets 100 ($78k)2020 Revenue 66 ($945k) Expenses 62 ($945k) Net assets 100 ($78k)2021 Revenue 41 ($584k) Expenses 34 ($523k) Net assets 178 ($139k)2022 Revenue 142 ($2.0M) Expenses 101 ($1.5M) Net assets 927 ($727k)2023 Revenue 100 ($1.4M) Expenses 103 ($1.6M) Net assets 746 ($585k)2024 Revenue 107 ($1.5M) Expenses 102 ($1.6M) Net assets 693 ($543k)2025 Revenue 111 ($1.6M) Expenses 117 ($1.8M) Net assets 424 ($332k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (111)Expenses (117)Net assets (424)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 2021 to 2022, from $458k to $893k (+95%).

$212k
$100k
$361k
$329k
$458k
$893k
$763k
$712k
$565k
'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

Government-grant reliance: 2017 13% · 2018 14% · 2019 11% · 2020 2% · 2021 22% · 2022 19% · 2023 22% · 2024 16% · 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

57% of NORTH CAROLINA OPERA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$104k
’17
−$112k
’18
$250k
’19
$64
’20
$61k
’21
$473k
’22
−$142k
’23
−$41k
’24
−$211k
’25
2.0
months of
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

Nancy Hablutzel

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed282927262826242324
Joined·+3+3+3+2+0+2+4+3
No longer listed·25402452
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $53k → $128k.

7 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 NORTH CAROLINA 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

NORTH CAROLINA OPERA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

58% 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 NORTH CAROLINA OPERA.

23%
largest funder
53%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 50% · 2019 27% · 2020 37% · 2021 59% · 2022 52% · 2023 35% — 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

44% of NORTH CAROLINA OPERA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

85% of NORTH CAROLINA OPERA's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.

IL
NY
VA
KS
NC
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $263k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

NORTH CAROLINA OPERA's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding NORTH CAROLINA OPERA receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $70k on record.

Federal$70k
grants $70kcontracts $0
18
20
22
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$70k

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 NORTH CAROLINA 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 North Carolina

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

81% of spending goes to programs.

Program 81%Management 9%Fundraising 10%

Governance

24
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

88%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTH CAROLINA 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.

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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 NORTH CAROLINA OPERA?
NORTH CAROLINA OPERA (North Carolina) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,247 to it, the largest being JOHN WILLIAM POPE FOUNDATION ($145,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does NORTH CAROLINA OPERA have?
IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $640,247 in grants to NORTH CAROLINA OPERA, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NORTH CAROLINA OPERA?
JOHN WILLIAM POPE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $145,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NORTH CAROLINA OPERA find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 North Carolina Opera →

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 22 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