California · Nonprofit
OPERA SANTA BARBARA
OPERA SANTA BARBARA (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,911,451 to it, the largest being SCHLINGER CHRISMAN FOUNDATION NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE ($927,500). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $3.9M
- Net assets
- $2k
What Opera Santa Barbara does
Mission
See schedule 0founded in 1994, Opera Santa Barbara is the signature provider of professional opera on the california central coast. We aspire to be a cultural leader in the santa barbara region, voicing and advancing our community's spirit and values through vibrant music theatre. Our company annually offers a dynamic repertoire of opera favorites, lesser-known classics, and contemporary american works in productions highlighting the artists and craftspeople of our region. We introduce students to the art and meaning of opera; develop operatic musicianship in promising emerging singers; and provide free operatic programs, both educational and musical, to the tri-county area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
See schedule oas the premier presenter of professional opera in california's central coast, our company presents a broad repertoire that includes popular opera favorites, lesser known operas,contemporary american works. Opera Santa Barbara's 30th anniversary season included one grand opera favorite(carmen), one lesser known classic (il trovatore), one santa barbara premiere (zorro), and a chamber production of an opera for younger audiences (el gato con botas). More than 4000 attended these productions.
$1,131,601 spent$285,130 earned by the program98% of program spendingSee schedule oeducation & outreach: thanks to a generous grant from the robert and mercedes eichholz foundation, Opera Santa Barbara was able to offer free student matinee performances for 'el gato con botas and 'zorro'. Each was followed by a q&a session with the cast and creative team.
$22,519 spent2% of program spendingSee schedule ochrisman studio artists program. Opera Santa Barbara developsthe next generation of opera singers, educators, and administrators by providing mainstage performance opportunities, master classes and administrative internships to emerging professionals. Now in its 16th year, the program focused on providing much-needed next-level opportunities to program alumni, such as principal roles in all three mainstage productions, and the leading roles in the production of el gato con botas.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,154,120.
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 2018 to 2019, from $1.8M to $290k (−84%).
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 2% · 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 17% · 2022 8% · 2023 18% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of OPERA SANTA BARBARA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (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
Nicholas Burlett
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $342k → $540k.
9 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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: $887k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Santa Barbara Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money OPERA SANTA BARBARA raised.
From the IRS filings of OPERA SANTA BARBARA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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 SANTA BARBARA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 31% · 2019 27% · 2020 24% · 2021 21% · 2022 30% · 2023 28% — 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
55% of OPERA SANTA BARBARA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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
OPERA SANTA BARBARA draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $830k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 SANTA BARBARA's funding base is broadening — from 16 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding OPERA SANTA BARBARA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 SANTA BARBARA
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 California
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
74%
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 OPERA SANTA BARBARA: 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 SANTA BARBARA?
- OPERA SANTA BARBARA (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,911,451 to it, the largest being SCHLINGER CHRISMAN FOUNDATION NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE ($927,500). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERA SANTA BARBARA have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $3,911,451 in grants to OPERA SANTA BARBARA, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERA SANTA BARBARA?
- SCHLINGER CHRISMAN FOUNDATION NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE is the largest funder on record, with $927,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERA SANTA BARBARA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Santa Barbara →
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 43 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