Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
PITTSBURGH OPERA INC
PITTSBURGH OPERA INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,851,001 to it, the largest being BITZ FOUNDATION ($3,427,707). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 82
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $34M
What Pittsburgh Opera Inc does
Mission
The mission of pittsburgh opera, inc. Is to enrich pittsburgh and the tri-state area culturally and to draw national and international attention to the region. This commitment is comprised of four goals: creating opera productions which meet and preserve the highest standards of artistic excellence; conveying the operatic arts in ways that make the art form intellectually and financially accessible to a diverse audience; providing educational opportunities to develop young singers into tomorrow's artists; and ensuring the future of the company through responsible fiscal management today.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Pittsburgh opera's core programming initiative is the fostering, development and support of music and opera along with the presentation of productions in a variety of musical and dramatic styles, drawn from the complete operatic repertoire. Casts include internationally renowned artists performing with pittsburgh opera's chorus and orchestra in productions from around the world. Pittsburgh opera attracts a diverse audience of more than 25,000 music-lovers to these performances, making a significant contribution to the economic health and social vitality of pittsburgh's cultural district. In the 2023-2024 season, the opera produced three operas at the beneduem center and one production at the byham theatre, respectively for a total of sixteen performances.
$4,022,440 spent$1,263,103 earned by the program76% of program spendingPittsburgh opera's resident artist training program is an intensive program designed to develop the talents of emerging vocal artists and stage directors. The program provides practical experience to these artists through performances in the opera's mainstage productions as well as two resident artist productions. The program includes an individual course of study designed to establish a comprehensive foundation for the emerging opera singer's burgeoning career, including vocal coaching, career management counseling, media coaching and master classes with operatic experts, all delivered in an environment that is supportive and nurturing so that singers can experiment, learn and grow as interpretive artists. For the resident artist program I the 2023-2024 season, the company produced two fully-staged productions with orchestra for a total of eight performances. Each each year the program receives over 850 applications and auditions over 350 singers for 7-8 positons.
$934,433 spentof which $174,634 as grants$52,151 earned by the program18% of program spendingPittsburgh opera's education programs are designed to bring opera closer to the community and to broaden understanding of and enthusiasm for the art form among people of all ages. Programming includes lectures, demonstrations, staged performances, workshops, concerts and recitals that introduce opera to students from grades pre-k to college, and that enhance appreciation of opera among adult lifelong learners. Other activities make opera accessible to people with disabilities and provide educators with the resources they need to integrate the study of opera and to address state academic standards in all content areas. Pittsburgh opera has over 30 education programs and provides services to 20,000 participants annually. Education programs impact over 900 educators.
$205,719 spent$10,492 earned by the program4% of program spendingPittsburgh opera's inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (I.d.e.a.) department ensures that I.d.e.a. Initiatives, policies, and best practices permeate the organizational demography of the organization and the community we serve. Pittsburgh opera offered 10 I.d.e.a. Trainings, workshops, and guided discussions for staff, performers, and constituents, conducted accountability measures including auditing for best practices and administered staff and board engagement surveys. I.d.e.a. Initiatives are further realized through strategic partnerships and community engagement offerings in order to positively impact those we serve. During fy 22/23, the company participated in 4 workshops covering inclusion, diversity, equity, and access best practices and bias awareness and heuristic impulses. Further, pittsburgh opera, with the aid of a civic practice grant awarded by opera america, began its first phase of partnerships with the homewood community to engage with and expose the population to opera and elements surrounding this art form. Pittsburgh opera held our annual family day where we saw an increase of 56% to 181 children, teens, and their families participated in four different…
$130,827 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,293,419.
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 2020 to 2021, from $25M to $31M (+21%).
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 10% · 2018 8% · 2019 8% · 2020 14% · 2021 21% · 2022 13% · 2023 9% · 2024 11% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of PITTSBURGH OPERA INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Michele Fabrizi
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $456k → $3.5M.
9 of 82 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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: $1.5M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Pittsburgh Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money PITTSBURGH OPERA INC raised.
From the IRS filings of PITTSBURGH OPERA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 82 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
PITTSBURGH OPERA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 28% · 2019 34% · 2020 25% · 2021 41% · 2022 15% · 2023 27% — 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
56% of PITTSBURGH OPERA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
99% of PITTSBURGH OPERA INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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
PITTSBURGH OPERA INC's funding base is broadening — from 19 funders to 42 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding PITTSBURGH OPERA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $225k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$225k
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 PITTSBURGH OPERA INC
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 PITTSBURGH OPERA INC: 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 PITTSBURGH OPERA INC?
- PITTSBURGH OPERA INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,851,001 to it, the largest being BITZ FOUNDATION ($3,427,707). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PITTSBURGH OPERA INC have?
- IRS filings report 82 organizations giving $17,851,001 in grants to PITTSBURGH OPERA INC, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PITTSBURGH OPERA INC?
- BITZ FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,427,707 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PITTSBURGH OPERA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Pittsburgh 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 82 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