Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Opera Lafayette
Opera Lafayette (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,594,241 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($410,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $652k
What Opera Lafayette does
Mission
Opera Lafayette seeks to bring fresh interpretations of rediscovered gems and historical masterpieces from the 17th through 19th centuries to modern audiences. We seek to illuminate the contemporary relevance of the works while simultaneously highlighting their original appeal. Central to the company's mission is building a legacy of the timeless repertoire Opera Lafayette brings back to life with period instruments. This is achieved through an extensive discography, mounting revivals, and inspiring a public appreciation for this repertoire through its audience engagement programs for audiences of all ages.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Annual Performances: Music from the 16th - 18th centuries performed throughout the Washington DC and New York City Metro areas, including RE / CLAIM: Ensemble Amedyez and Kalanidhi Dance at the Kennedy Center, RE / STORE: Dede's Morgiane at Lincoln Theatre in DC, The University of Maryland, and Jazz at Lincoln Center in NY, and RE / JOICE: 30 Years of Ryan Brown at the Kennedy Center in DC and St. Bart's Church in NY.
$756,466 spent$161,376 earned by the program83% of program spendingOpera Lafayette recorded the world premiere of Morgiane as part of its ongoing mission to rediscover and create a legacy of lost works. Morgiane is the first known opera by a Black American composer, and its recording represents a significant contribution to the operatic canon and historical understanding of American musical heritage. Opera Lafayette completed an audio recording of the world premiere production of Edmond Dede's Morgiane, the earliest known complete opera by a Black American composer, as part of its mission to rediscover and document overlooked works. The audio recording, made in partnership with OperaCrole, is scheduled for commercial release in January of, 2026, ensuring that this historically significant work enters the recorded operatic canon and remains accessible to artists, scholars, and audiences
$125,165 spent14% of program spendingCommunity Engagement and Education: Opera Lafayette is committed to inspiring a public appreciation for forgotten repertoire through audience engagement programs for people of all ages. During the FY25 season, Opera Lafayette presented educational events at Stanford in Washington, the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Opera Lafayette also held multiple pre-show panel discussions, as well as online virtual salon series.
$28,191 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $909,822.
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 $1.0M to $653k (−36%).
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 4% · 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 1% · 2021 7% · 2022 24% · 2023 16% · 2024 2% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Opera Lafayette’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. 4 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.
Chief executive
Lisa Mion
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $34k → $228k.
7 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 Opera Lafayette’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
Opera Lafayette has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
57% 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 Lafayette.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 45% · 2019 55% · 2020 45% · 2021 67% · 2022 41% · 2023 49% — growing more concentrated.
“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
47% of Opera Lafayette's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
54% of Opera Lafayette'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 $732k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $862k 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.
Against its field
Opera Lafayette 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
Government funding Opera Lafayette receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $309k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$199k
- National Endowment for the Arts$110k
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 Opera Lafayette
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Opera Lafayette LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Opera Lafayette: 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 Lafayette?
- Opera Lafayette (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,594,241 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($410,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Opera Lafayette have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $1,594,241 in grants to Opera Lafayette, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Opera Lafayette?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $410,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Opera Lafayette find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Lafayette →
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