Missouri · Nonprofit
OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS
OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS (Missouri) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,726,650 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($5,114,442). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $35M
- Funders on record
- 85
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $129M
What Opera Theatre of Saint Louis does
Mission
Opera theatre's mission is to shape a vibrant future for opera by connecting, inspiring, and entertaining our communities through the power and beauty of the art form; to foster the next generation by empowering a diverse group of artists, artisans, and administrators at the highest level; and to make opera accessible and inclusive through innovative and collaborative storytelling that reflects, engages, and strengthens the st. Louis community and attracts national and international audiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The 2025 festival season was otsl's 50th, and included four brand new productions, including strauss's die fledermaus, donizetti's don pasquale, britten's a midsummer nights dream, and the world premiere of this house by composer ricky ian gordon and librettists lynn nottage and ruby aiyo gerber. In addition, the season featured two concerts, center stage and our songs. The main stage performances featured early career singers in chorus, feature, and principal roles alongside established performers in productions led by world renowned conductors, stage directors, and designers. The st. Louis symphony orchestra accompanies all performances. Sets, props, costumes, and lighting are created locally by professional technicians and craftspeople. The 27 performances saw 14,490 tickets sold, and 2,253 given away as part of the phyllis' seats initiative to bring new people to opera. Attendees came from across the region, country, and globe.
$9,697,805 spentof which $43,500 as grants$1,445,973 earned by the program92% of program spendingIn fiscal year 2025 the education and engagement programs reached more than 75,000 students in 312 schools across 42 states and canada. Programs included: a digital streaming opera program in private, parochial, and public schools across the world; docent presentations in the community; arts intensive programs in local schools culminating in students creating and performing their own world premiere operas; vocal instruction and coaching for high schools students from local schools culminating in a public recital and scholarship awards; camps for middle and high school age students; and trailblazers in opera-an interactive lesson series spotlighting groundbreaking past and present black opera singers and composers.
$492,503 spentof which $39,400 as grants$40,280 earned by the program5% of program spendingNew works collective is a program dedicated to expand the american opera canon with original, innovative productions that authentically represent stories of our community. The new works collective is a dynamic group of st. Louis-based artists, activists, and educators that is tasked with identifying and commissioning works that are relevant and relatable for the broader st. Louis region. In 2025 the collective selected three creative teams from a broad, nationwide open call. The cycle of three new works selected by the collective premiered in february 2025 to sold out audiences at the kirkwood performing arts center. The three premieres were black coffee by composer concert black and librettist alicia reve like, family style by composer meilina tsui and librettist melisa tien, and kandake by composer tim amukele and librettist jarrod lee.
$360,722 spent$34,029 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,551,030.
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 $45M to $95M (+114%).
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 3% · 2018 3% · 2019 6% · 2021 17% · 2022 2% · 2023 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
50% of OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $2.5M.
11 of 85 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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: $2.9M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of Greater St Louis Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS raised.
From the IRS filings of OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 85 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 THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
51% 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 THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 32% · 2019 40% · 2020 31% · 2021 46% · 2022 27% · 2023 55% — 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
60% of OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
74% of OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.0M 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 THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $785k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$785k
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 THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS: 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 THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS?
- OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS (Missouri) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,726,650 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($5,114,442). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS have?
- IRS filings report 85 organizations giving $16,726,650 in grants to OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS, 58 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,114,442 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Theatre of Saint Louis →
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 85 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