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The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Private foundation

The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$136k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$45k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.6MEducation$26kHealth$7kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $4k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $132k
$12,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$21M
Total assets

Largely a single collection: about 95% of reported assets are Artwork On Display At The Mcnay.

Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND$45,000
MCNAY ART MUSEUM$30,400
NEW YORK CITY BALLET$15,000
CLUBBED THUMB$12,000
THE DALLAS OPERA$10,000
THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO$10,000
ARS NOVA THEATER I INC$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD$3,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%USITT: $20k → 14%OPERA AMERICA: $30k → 17%THE DALLAS OPERA: $10k → 14%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $500k → 16%TULSA OPERA INC: $19k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASH: $10k → 12%CLUBBED THUMB: $12k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $121k → 16%OPERA AMERICA: $30k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $92k → 16%CLUBBED THUMB: $10k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $33k → 16%OPERA AMERICA: $20k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $30k → 16%VINEYARD THEATRE: $10k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $27k → 16%OPERA AMERICA: $20k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $14k → 16%NEW YORK CITY BALLET: $15k → 17%MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $8k → 16%VINEYARD THEATRE: $10k → 17%OPERA AMERICA: $18k → 17%LINCOLN CENTER: $15k → 17%OPERA AMERICA: $12k → 17%THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO: $10k → 16%LINCOLN CENTER: $10k → 17%THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO: $10k → 16%THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO: $10k → 16%ARS NOVA THEATER I INC: $10k → 17%THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO: $10k → 16%THE OPERA OF SAN ANTONIO: $10k → 16%ARTISANS GUILD OF AMERICA: $15k → 17%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $50k → 17%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $45k → 17%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $45k → 17%THE CLASSIC THEATRE OF SAN ANTONIO: $14k → 16%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $45k → 17%THE CLASSIC THEATRE OF SAN ANTONIO: $8k → 16%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $45k → 17%THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND: $45k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $17k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $14k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $11k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $11k → 17%SECOND STAGE THEATRE: $10k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $9k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $9k → 17%PLAYWRIGHT HORIZONS: $9k → 17%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 12 repeat orgs$117k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
9

Total granted

$1.5M
$92k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+3%

Still filing today

83%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • TD
    THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC
    6× · 2017–2024 · $275k · revenue +21%
  • PH
    PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $80k · revenue +21%
  • TO
    THE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN
    5× · 2017–2024 · $50k · revenue +63%

Funded once

  • U
    USITT
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • TULSA OPERA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $19k · revenue +37%
  • AG
    ARTISANS GUILD OF AMERICA
    one grant, 2020 · $15k · revenue -77%
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
2
Transport Group Inc Dba Transport Group Theatre Company

Producing and developing plays and musicals.

Arts & Culture
3
American Baroque Opera Company

American baroque opera company operates in the state of texas for the primary purpose of furthering the appreciaton of music, particularly opera, for the general public. american baroque opera company performs select operas throughout the…

Arts & Culture
4
Spanish Theatre Repertory Company Ltd

To present, in a rotating repertory, the finest latin american, spanish, and latino usa theatre and to serve as a catalyst for cultural exchange between spanish and english speaking americans.

Arts & Culture
5
Foundation for Modern Opera
—
6
Women's Project & Productions Inc

Wp theater is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing, and promoting the work of women+ at every stage of their careers. for over four decades we have served as leaders of a global movement…

Arts & Culture
7
Theo Ubique Theatre

The mission of theo ubique theater company is to engage actors and audiences in an intimate and honest conversation with great theatrical works, including musicals, reviews, and dramas.in a cabatet setting with food service available.

Arts & Culture
8
Theatre for a New Audience Inc

The mission of theatre for a new audience is to develop and vitalize the performance and study of shakespeare and classic drama. the theatre is dedicated to the language and ideas of writers - to a dialogue over centuries between…

Arts & Culture
9
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc

The mission of HGO is to enrich our diverse community through the art of opera. We will do so by creating, curating, exploring, and producing outstanding experiences centered around the human voice.(Continued on Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
10
Center for Contemporary Opera

Based in ny city the company focuses on producing and developing new opera and music theater works and rviving rarely seen american operas written after world war. teh center for contemporary operas ha sstaged the premiers of over seventy…

—
11
Chamber Opera of Chicago
—
12
Alley Theatre

To inspire and enchant lives through a variety of theatrical experiences at the highest level of artistic excellence with our Resident Acting Company at the center

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Theatre Development Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is Artisans Guild of America. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

19 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 19 of the 23 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/19
Grantees still filing
12/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MCNAY ART MUSEUM: $824,681 · Arts & CultureMCNAY ART MUSEUMTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $275,000 · Arts & CultureTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INCOPERA AMERICA INC: $130,000 · Arts & CultureOPERA AMERICA INCPLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS INC: $80,100 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $219,258 · Arts & Culture+12 moreVINEYARD THEATRE: $32,500 · OtherUSITT: $20,000 · OtherARS NOVA: $11,000 · OtherLIVE SOURCE THEATRE GROUP: $4,000 · OtherUniversity of the Incarnate Word: $15,900 · EducationThe University of North Carolina at Asheville Foundation Inc: $10,000 · EducationTEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $6,500 · Health
Arts & Culture$1,529,039Other$67,500Education$25,900Health$6,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMCNAY ART MUSEUM: $824,681 over 8y, 3.8% of budgetTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $275,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetOPERA AMERICA INC: $130,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetPLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS INC: $80,100 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN: $50,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetClassic Theatre of San Antonio: $30,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetLINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetClubbed Thumb Inc: $22,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTULSA OPERA INC: $18,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetARS NOVA THEATER I INC: $16,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetUniversity of the Incarnate Word: $15,900 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARTISANS GUILD OF AMERICA: $15,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetNEW YORK CITY BALLET INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Dallas Opera: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTEXAS BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $6,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOPERA GUILD OF SAN ANTONIO: $258 over 1y, 0.9% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Andrew W Mellon F…The Williamson Founda…Russell Hill Rogers F…American Endowment Fo…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Andrew W Mellon FoundationNY15.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · The Williamson Foundation · Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund?

    Find your warmest path to The Tobin Theatre Arts Fund through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 23 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Tobin Theatre Arts’ filings →

    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