California · Nonprofit
San Diego Opera Association
San Diego Opera Association (California) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,818,320 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,892,034). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.9M
- Funders on record
- 71
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $11M
What San Diego Opera Association does
Mission
Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. As part of its mission to make opera accessible to all, san diego opera offers extensive opera education and outreach programs, which serve adults and school children in san diego county and northern mexico, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged children.vision: the san diego opera will be recognized internationally as a leading example of adaptability, innovation, and sustainability, promoting diversity on stage, in our repertoire, and in our staff and leadership, with a commitment to the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
During the year ended june 30, 2025, san diego opera produced three main stage productions each production with three performances at san diego civic theater coupled with one concert at balboa theatre
$6,077,578 spent$2,141,901 earned by the program97% of program spendingAs part of its mission to make opera accessible to all, san diego opera offers extensive opera education and outreach programs, which serve adults and school children in san diego county and northern mexico, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged children.
$194,711 spent$57,445 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,272,289.
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 2022 to 2023, from $17M to $13M (−22%).
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 6% · 2018 5% · 2019 5% · 2020 6% · 2021 11% · 2022 11% · 2023 11% · 2024 5% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of San Diego Opera Association’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. 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.
Board chair
Sarah B Marsh-Rebelo Gg
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $976k → $1.3M.
20 of 71 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.
From the IRS filings of San Diego Opera Association’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 71 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
San Diego Opera Association has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 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 San Diego Opera Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 32% · 2019 29% · 2020 26% · 2021 26% · 2022 29% · 2023 16% — 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 San Diego Opera Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
66% of San Diego Opera Association's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
San Diego Opera Association's funding base is broadening — from 20 funders to 33 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding San Diego Opera Association receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $292k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$292k
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 San Diego Opera Association
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
73% 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
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- San Diego Opera Assoc Endowment Trust · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for San Diego Opera Association: 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 San Diego Opera Association?
- San Diego Opera Association (California) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,818,320 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($1,892,034). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does San Diego Opera Association have?
- IRS filings report 71 organizations giving $10,818,320 in grants to San Diego Opera Association, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of San Diego Opera Association?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,892,034 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like San Diego Opera Association 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 San Diego Opera Association →
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 71 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