Bel Cantanti Opera Company
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 710966118
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Silver Spring, MD, USA
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $171,016
- Expenses
- $112,686
- Assets
- $172,102
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Tom O'Grady (Board President)
People named in this filing
- Tom O'Grady (Board President)
- Sandra Gust (Board Treasurer)
- Katerina Souvorova (Musical Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
An opera company whose mission is to support the development of young opera singers through performance opportunities and to bring those performances to the community at reasonable ticket prices.
What it reported doing in 2025
A February 2025 Johann Strauss program performed at Asbury Methodist Village and at the Bender JCC; a May 2025 Romeo and Juliet production at the Bender JCC; September 2025 performances of two Ravel operas LEnfant et les Sortileges and LHeure Espagnole at the Bethesda Writers Center; November 2025 programs featuring the work of Romanian composer Nicolae Bretan at the Chevy Chase Club and at St. Dunstans Church and a December 2025 holiday Snow Queen production at the Bethesda Writers Center
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Assets have declined or grown slowly and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 65.9%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 34.1%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.53; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 10.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 65.9% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $113K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.