California · Nonprofit
WEST EDGE OPERA
WEST EDGE OPERA (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,832,200 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($555,588). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $180k
What West Edge Opera does
Mission
West Edge Opera looks at the art form through a new lens: we present early and contemporary works and re-imagine opera traditions to engage and entertain a diverse audience.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
The Snapshot program was put onto an every-other-year cycle; no concert was presented in 2025 but one is planned for 2026.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Festival: Our core program is a summer opera festival in which we present early music 20th century and contemporary operas in repertory over three weekends in July and August. We have presented this program in many varied venues across the Bay Area; this is the fourth year that it was held in the Oakland Scottish Rite Center. The operas presented were the premiere of Dolores by Nicols Lell Benavides and Marella Martin Koch - a West Edge Opera commission; David & Jonathan by Marc-Antoine Charpentier 1688; and Wozzeck by Alban Berg 1922.
$1,111,501 spent$926,870 earned by the program92% of program spendingSnapshot: In 2017 we launched Snapshot: an annual showcase of selections from new operas by West Coast composers. Snapshot presents an orchestration showcase before a live audience with a recording and a feedback panel of opera professionals for the participating composers. Each year approximately 40 west coast composers apply and 4-6 operas are selected. We co-present Snapshot with San Franciscos EarPlay Chamber Music Ensemble. April 2024 marked the 8th annual Snapshot. Snapshot is moving to an every-other-year cycle - no concert was presented in 2025 but it will return in 2026.
$0 spent0% of program spendingNew works development: In fall of 2020 during the pandemic shutdown West Edge Opera launched Aperture is an online development residency for composers and librettists offering stipends mentorship and development opportunities for emerging works. WEOs commissioning and development efforts have continued and expanded since this beginning with our second commission Dolores by Nicols Lell Benavides and Marella Martin Koch premiering in 2025 and a third commission underway: Claude & Marcel by Alyssa Weinberg and Stephanie Fleishmann for a planned premiere in 2027.
$82,748 spent$38,950 earned by the program7% of program spendingVarious artistic research and development efforts for future seasons; rented storage space for production-related equipment and supplies.
$18,411 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,212,660.
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 2021 to 2022, from $503k to $361k (−28%).
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: 2021 13% · 2022 24% · 2023 18% · 2024 15% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of WEST EDGE OPERA’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 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $41k → $285k.
12 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 WEST EDGE OPERA’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
WEST EDGE OPERA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 WEST EDGE OPERA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 34% · 2019 63% · 2020 49% · 2021 34% · 2022 37% · 2023 47% — 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
47% of WEST EDGE OPERA'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
83% of WEST EDGE OPERA's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $319k that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
WEST EDGE OPERA has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding WEST EDGE OPERA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $118k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$118k
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 WEST EDGE 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 WEST EDGE 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 WEST EDGE OPERA?
- WEST EDGE OPERA (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,832,200 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($555,588). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WEST EDGE OPERA have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $1,832,200 in grants to WEST EDGE OPERA, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WEST EDGE OPERA?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $555,588 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WEST EDGE OPERA 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 West Edge Opera →
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 27 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