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· Public charity

League of Chicago Theatres Foundation

LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION supports the work of league of chicago theatres through grantmaking and fundraising.

$4.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2025.

Arts & Culture$1.2MHealth$14k
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 17 grants below total $199,360 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $4,095,331 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $3,895,971 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $155k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Steppenwolf Theatre Co$25,000
Chicago Sinfonietta$25,000
Goodman Theatre$25,000
Crossing Borders Music$10,000
Free Street Theater$10,000
The Firehouse Dream Inc$10,000
Elastic Arts Foundation$10,000
Chicago Dance Crash$10,000
THEATRE Y$10,000
Oil Lamp Theater$10,000
Full Spectrum Features$10,000
Batavia Foundation Education$9,000
Korean Performing Arts Inst$8,000
Berwyn Public Art Initiative$8,000
FILAMENT THEATRE ENSEMBLE$7,500
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY21–22, $27k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 64% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%The Crystal Lake Strikers: $10k → 6%Total Link 2 Community: $8k → 14%Instituto del Progreso: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

19%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$223k · 9 repeat orgs$948k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +44% since the first grant, against +15% for the ones you funded once.

9 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
73

Total granted

$223k
$769k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+15%

Still filing today

100%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 10% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $179k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEducationCivil RightsOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TY
    Theatre Y
    2× · 2020–2025 · $37k · revenue +254% · 33% of their budget
  • CC
    CHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE
    2× · 2020–2024 · $33k · revenue +44%
  • MF
    Maywood Fine Arts Association
    3× · 2019–2024 · $30k · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • UT
    UNDERSCORE THEATRE COMPANY
    one grant, 2019 · $26k · revenue -100%
  • AP
    Albany Park Theater Project
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -26%
  • HYDE PARK ART CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +17%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Pegasus Theatre Chicago

Pegasus Theatre Chicago is a professional theater approaching 45 years of supporting Chicagos diverse community by producing accessible, socially relevant theatre and promoting the development of new artists for the stage. Our mission is…

—
2
Chamber Opera of Chicago
—
3
Teatro Vista Theater With a View Inc

Teatro Vista Productions is a non-profit theatre-based company dedicated to multidisciplinary artists of color whose artistic expression on stage and beyond is rooted in the transformative power of owning and telling our own stories.

Arts & Culture
4
The Story Theatre

The Story Theatre will pose questions, rather than provide answers. We develop and produce new work that is whimsical, melancholic, mythic in vision, and intimate in scale. We are run by a governing artistic ensemble, who ensures our work…

Arts & Culture
5
South Chicago Dance Theatre

South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) is a multicultural organization seamlessly fusing classical and contemporary dance styles as well as preserving historic dance work. With Choreographic Diplomacy at the heart of the organization, the…

Arts & Culture
6
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

Remy Bumppo expands and enriches our communitys view of the world, and our own, by producing both the great plays of the past and the important plays of today. As an ensemble-driven theater company, we author a more humane culture as we…

Arts & Culture
7
Redtwist Theatre

We strive to create searing hot drama from bold new works to obscure buried treasures that builds empathy dissects cruelty and reveals broader truths. We realize these goals by transforming our tiny black box and its explosive immediacy…

Arts & Culture
8
Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago

Center in chicago for arts community purpose

Arts & Culture
9
Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Creating innovative puppetry performances utilizing musical, literary, and puppetry traditions.

Arts & Culture
10
Open Space Arts

Open Space Arts is a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to producing bold LGBTQ-focused theater and presenting independent queer cinema. The organization supports emerging and established artists while engaging audiences through live…

Arts & Culture
11
The City Theatre Company Inc

To provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience.

Arts & Culture
12
American Blues Theater Nfp

American Blues Theater is an Ensemble of artists committed to producing new and classic diverse stories that ask the question: What does it mean to be American?

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Children's Theatre and the most unlike its peers is Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 26 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%0%<5yr14%8%5–10yr18%22%10–20yr17%37%20–35yr15%26%35–55yr16%7%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%6%5–10yr18%19%10–20yr17%39%20–35yr15%28%35–55yr16%8%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%3/97
the rest of the field
16%
4,998/31,413

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

93 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2026, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 93 of the 97 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
89/93
Grantees still filing
52/93
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Theatre Y — $36,900 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE — $32,678 · Arts & Culture+67 more — $758,583 · Arts & Culture+67 moreMaywood Fine Arts Association — $30,000 · OtherMaywood Fine Arts Asso…Free Street Theater — $27,500 · OtherFree Street TheaterUNDERSCORE THEATRE COMPANY — $25,500 · OtherUNDERSCORE THEATRE COM…CENTER FOR THE PERF ARTS GSU — $25,000 · OtherCENTER FOR THE PERF AR…INTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER OF CHICAGO — $10,000 · OtherESPERANZA COMMUNITY SERVICES — $10,000 · OtherChicago Jazz Philharmonic — $10,000 · OtherTHE REBUILD FOUNDATION NFP — $10,000 · OtherMOMENTA — $10,000 · OtherFAUBOURG THEATRE INC — $9,650 · OtherART ENCOUNTER — $9,500 · OtherCHIMERA INC — $8,500 · OtherSUBTEXT STUDIO THEATER — $8,500 · OtherBERWYN PUBLIC ART INITIATIVE NFP — $8,000 · OtherTHE WASTESHED — $8,000 · Other+3 more — $20,419 · Other+3 moreAlbany Park Theater Project — $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE MIRACLE CENTER — $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentRole Model Movement Inc (NFP) — $8,078 · Youth DevelopmentINSTITUTE FOR LATINO PROGRESS — $10,000 · Human ServicesThe Crystal Lake Strikers Drumline Inc — $9,712 · Human ServicesTOTALLINK TO COMMUNITY INC — $7,500 · Human ServicesTHE EXPERIMENTAL STATION — $10,000 · Community ImprovementARCHI-TREASURES ASSOCIATION — $10,000 · Community ImprovementCHANGING WORLDS — $10,000 · Civil RightsBATAVIA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE — $9,000 · Education
Arts & Culture$828,161Other$230,569Youth Development$45,578Human Services$27,212Community Improvement$20,000Civil Rights$10,000Education$9,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTheatre Y — $36,900 over 2y, 33% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE — $32,678 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetMaywood Fine Arts Association — $30,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetFree Street Theater — $27,500 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetAlbany Park Theater Project — $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetHYDE PARK ART CENTER — $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO SINFONIETTA INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHEATER WIT NFP — $22,435 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetSPECIAL GIFTS THEATRE INC CO ELISE LARSEN — $20,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetELMHURST ART MUSEUM — $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRivendell Theatre Ensemble — $17,500 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetAbout Face Theatre Collective Inc — $13,909 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetBeverly Arts Center of Chicago — $13,111 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetADVENTURE THEATRE INC — $12,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE ARTS OF LIFE INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetINTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER OF CHICAGO — $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR LATINO PROGRESS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIllinois Philharmonic Orchestra — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetWest Side Show Room — $10,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetAguijon Theater Company of Chicago — $10,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetESPERANZA COMMUNITY SERVICES — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFull Spectrum Features NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHANGING WORLDS — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE EXPERIMENTAL STATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAuditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSALT CREEK BALLET COMPANY — $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetChicago City Theatre Company dba Joel Hall Dancers & Center — $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetARCHI-TREASURES ASSOCIATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCOLLABORACTION THEATRE CO — $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetENGLEWOOD ARTS — $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetOLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FIREHOUSE DREAM INC — $10,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetWATER PEOPLE THEATER GROUP NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetPLAYMAKERS LABORATORY THEATRE — $10,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetGRANT PARK ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO DANCE CRASH NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetMUNTU DANCE THEATRE — $10,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetElastic Arts Foundation — $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetSkyArt NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSIDE STREET STUDIO ARTS — $10,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetChicago Jazz Philharmonic — $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetGreen Star Movement NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetDEFINITION THEATRE COMPANY — $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetNONOP INC — $10,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Field Foundation of I…Ncrc Community Develo…The Chicago Community…Gaylord and Dorothy D…John D and Catherine …Polk Bros Foundation …The Richard H Driehau…Lloyd a Fry FoundationWalder FoundationPrince FoundationThe Joyce FoundationReva and David Logan …
Field Foundation of IllinoisIL73.6× affinity35 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Field Foundation of Illinois · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The Richard H Driehaus Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Walder Foundation · Prince Foundation · The Joyce Foundation · Reva and David Logan Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization League of Chicago Theatres Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Adventure Theatre Inc — 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
38report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 97 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home