North Carolina · Nonprofit
OPERA CAROLINA
OPERA CAROLINA (North Carolina) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,266,337 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($2,933,770). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $7.3M
- Net assets
- $-3903023
What Opera Carolina does
Mission
To inspire and entertain the region's diverse community through the presentation of excellent opera, operetta, music theatre, education and outreach programs that elevate the quality of life in the carolinas.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The primary program service activity is that of main stage productionsand educational activities. Our main stage showcased multipleproductions which fulfilled our exempt purpose of providing accessibility to and developing knowledge of professional opera and elevating the quality of cultural life in the carolinas.
$1,237,423 spent$327,891 earned by the program93% of program spendingThe educational activities include our opera express touring arm which engages over 20,000 children by means of multiple performances across the states of north carolina, south carolina, and georgia; student night at the opera which is held during dress rehearsal for each main stage production and in which students and adults participated, and Opera Carolina academy which provides access to music instruction, music-drama instruction, and age appropriate vocal instruction for students of all ages in an artistic atmosphere which emphasizes classical music while honoring the value of musical expression in all genres.
$86,249 spent$22,854 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,323,672.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.8M to $751k (−58%).
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 28% · 2018 12% · 2019 16% · 2020 18% · 2021 28% · 2022 28% · 2023 27% · 2024 21% · 2025 51%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
210% of OPERA CAROLINA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 6 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
Carol Kendrick
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $683k → $725k.
11 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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: $710k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Opera Carolina Endowment). These are real filings, and they are not money OPERA CAROLINA raised.
From the IRS filings of OPERA CAROLINA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 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
OPERA CAROLINA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 OPERA CAROLINA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 87% · 2018 60% · 2019 62% · 2020 38% · 2021 39% · 2022 81% · 2023 70% — 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 OPERA CAROLINA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
88% of OPERA CAROLINA's grant income comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M 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
OPERA CAROLINA's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 22 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like OPERA CAROLINA
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Opera Carolina Endowment · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPERA CAROLINA: 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 OPERA CAROLINA?
- OPERA CAROLINA (North Carolina) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,266,337 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($2,933,770). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERA CAROLINA have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $7,266,337 in grants to OPERA CAROLINA, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERA CAROLINA?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $2,933,770 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERA CAROLINA 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 Opera Carolina →
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 42 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