Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,120,084 to it, the largest being Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts ($9,340,956). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $9.0M
What Washington National Opera does
Mission
During the reporting period, the mission of the wno was as follows: Washington National Opera, as a leader in opera and a flagship of the kennedy center, seeks to inspire, connect, and enrich our community, shape the future of opera, and illuminate the american and human experience. We tell timeless stories with programming that excites, entertains, engages, and educates. We are committed to diversity and balance - presenting classic, contemporary, and american works - to broad local, national, and international audiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Washington National Opera provided several grants to the john f. Kennedy center for the performing arts to support its Washington National Opera program and program activities.
$264,341 spentof which $264,341 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $264,341.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2024 to 2025, from $55k to $9.0M (+16227%).
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: 2020 71% · 2021 71% · 2022 49% · 2023 58% · 2024 61% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA’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. 0 of the last 6 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
Mr Eric Jon Larsen
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $280k → $979k.
9 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 33% · 2019 62% · 2020 65% · 2021 63% · 2022 22% · 2023 31% — 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
42% of WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M 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
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA has grown faster 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 WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $465k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$465k
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 WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA
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
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- John F Kennedy Ctr for the Performart · exempt
- Kennedy Ctr Electronic Media Techinc · exempt
- Kennedy Center Productions Inc · exempt
- National Symphony Orchestra Association · exempt
- Vsa Arts Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA: 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 WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA?
- WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,120,084 to it, the largest being Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts ($9,340,956). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $16,120,084 in grants to WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA?
- Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts is the largest funder on record, with $9,340,956 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 47 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