Lyric Opera of Chicago

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
366008929
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3123322244
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$80,826,148
Expenses
$76,783,278
Assets
$285,413,360
Liabilities
$85,563,175

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

102 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANTHONY FREUD (GENERAL DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT & CEO/UNTIL AUG 2024)
  • JOHN MANGUM (GENERAL DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT & CEO/BEG OCT 2024)
  • BRADLEY DUNN (VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS)
  • JENNIFER BOYD (VICE PRESIDENT, PEOPLE & CULTURE)
  • KATHLEEN SHEEHAN (VICE PRESIDENT FOR PRINCIPAL GIFTS/UNTIL DEC 2024)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANTHONY FREUD (GENERAL DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT & CEO/UNTIL AUG 2024): $1,197,245 total reported compensation
  • ENRIQUE MAZZOLA (VICE-CHAIR & MUSIC DIRECTOR): $621,864 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH HURLEY (ASST SECRETARY, CAO, DEPUTY GENERAL DIRECTOR): $586,182 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To enrich our community through opera and the arts.

What it reported doing in 2024

Lyric unlimited, an initiative of lyric opera of chicago, offers a multifaceted program of expanded community engagement and artistic initiatives and includes lyric's longstanding educational programs. Lyric seeks to enrich the lives of chicago-area children and adults through high-quality, accessible arts education, which focuses on cultivating a lifelong appreciation of opera and creating audiences for the future. Lyric's school programs embrace arts education as a core subject and promote cross-curricular integration while fulfilling state learning standards. Community programs provide education on a variety of levels, from novice to expert, which heighten the opera-going experience. 44 youth and adult programs were held throughout the year. Attendance for these educational activities totaled approximately 28,219. Please note, as required by the instructions, the revenue disclosed here does not include contributed revenue for these programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 97.6%; rating input score 98; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.72; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 79.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 82 of 84 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $60.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.2M · 102 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.8M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.