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Theater League Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Theater League Inc

To provide for the development of the performing arts as a cultural and educational resource.

$856k
Granted FY2023
60
Grants FY2023
24
States reached
$55k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

92% of Theater League Inc’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Jewish Community Foundation Of Greater Kansas City, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 80 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year Theater League Inc named its own grantees at scale: 58 organizations, $885k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

16
’17
15
’18
20
’19
21
’20
58
’23
86
’24
80
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$12MPhilanthropy$12MEducation$35kPublic Benefit$5k
02FY2023 · 60 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k24 grants · $120k
  • $10k–50k31 grants · $500k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $265k
$10,000
Median grant
24
States reached
$7.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Unicorn Theatre$55,000
The Coterie$55,000
KC Actors Theatre$55,000
KC Repertory Theatre$50,000
Lyric Opera of Kansas City$50,000
Heart of America Shakespeare Festival$40,000
Kansas City Young Audiences$35,000
KC Fring Festival$35,000
Musical Theatre Heritage$35,000
KC Symphony$25,000
Theatre for Young America$25,000
KC Melting Pot Theatre$25,000
Fishtank Theatre Inc Black Box$20,000
Folly Theater$20,000
Kauffman Center for the Perf Arts$20,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY23–24, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival: $5k → 16%Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival: $5k → 16%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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
AL
GA
TX
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 51% of Theater League Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 11% of the giving stays in MO; by stated purpose, 44%.

Theater League Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.8M · 72 repeat orgs$572k to everyone else

72 repeat relationships: 51 still active in FY2023, 21 since wound down; 66 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

72
6

Total granted

$3.8M
$42k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
+68%

Still filing today

92%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $290k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalHuman ServicesPublic BenefitOther
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

  • TC
    THE COTERIE INC
    6× · 2017–2024 · $297k · revenue +14%
  • MT
    MUSICAL THEATER HERITAGE INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $241k · revenue +43%
  • KC
    KANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $212k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • BI
    Burnon Inc dba Rubicon Theatre Companygraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +68%
  • SB
    SANTA BARBARA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC
    one grant, 2017 · $9k · revenue -14%
  • MT
    MUSIC THEATRE WICHITAgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $8k · revenue +89%
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
The Center for International Theatre Development
Arts & Culture
2
Classical Theatre Company

Classical Theatre Company is dedicated to boldly re-envisioning classical drama on the stage, in the community, and in the classroom through engaging and enlightening plays that bring them new life and relevance while maintaining the…

Arts & Culture
3
Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre
Arts & Culture
4
Know Theatre of Cincinnati

Know Theatre is a small professional theatre showcasing voices, new works, & plays that embrace the inherent theatricality of the live experience. Know Theatre seeks to be a place where artists and audiences feel welcome to take artistic…

Arts & Culture
5
Artists Repertory Theatre

Artists repertory theatre's mission is to produce intimate, provacative theatre and provide a home for a diverse community of artists and audiences to take creative risks.

Arts & Culture
6
Haven Arts Theatre

We are a theatre company. We provide opportunities for local theatre artists and high quality productions for the public.

Arts & Culture
7
Staretthe Directors Company Inc

The Directors Company is an award-winning not-for-profit theatre company with an extraordinary record in its mission to develop and produce groundbreaking new plays and musicals initiated and generated by outstanding directorial talent,…

Arts & Culture
8
Classic Theatre of Maryland Inc

Classic Theatre of Marylands mission is to produce bold re-imagined entertaining and accessible interpretations of classical works contemporary plays and musicals with a core commitment to the works of Shakespeare and other major…

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
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
11
Titan Productions Incorporated

Titan theatre company is committed to breathing new life and clarity into classical works of theatre, exploring new and contemporary language plays, and delivering adventurous and visceral theatrical experiences for our audiences and…

Arts & Culture
12
Latino Theater Company

The latino theater company operates the los angeles theatre center, whose mission is to provide a world class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; a…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Black Ensemble Theater Corporation; the most unlike its peers is University of Notre Dame du Lac. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

131 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. 131 of the 146 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
129/131
Grantees still filing
58/131
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $20,191,882 · PhilanthropyJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITYUNICORN THEATRE: $316,700 · Arts & CultureUNICORN THEATRETHE COTERIE INC: $297,290 · Arts & CultureTHE COTERIE INCMUSICAL THEATER HERITAGE INC: $241,000 · Arts & CultureMUSICAL THEATER HE…KANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC: $212,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY ACTORS…HEART OF AMERICA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $197,500 · Arts & Culture+107 more: $2,635,718 · Arts & Culture+107 moreKC CREATES INC: $60,000 · OtherTOLEDO SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $33,040 · OtherBOARD OF TRUSTEES OF ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · OtherThe Shakespeare Festival of Dallas dba Shakespeare Dallas: $30,000 · OtherKauffman Center for the Perf Arts: $20,000 · OtherTHEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP INC: $20,000 · OtherTHE LINKS INC: $12,737 · Other+19 more: $155,000 · OtherUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $30,000 · EducationUMKC FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationTHE NAPA VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationGilloury Institute: $10,000 · InternationalFlagstaff Shakespeare Festival: $10,000 · Human ServicesCOLORADO SPRINGS WORLD ARENA: $5,000 · Public Benefit
Philanthropy$20,191,882Arts & Culture$3,900,208Other$360,777Education$70,000International$10,000Human Services$10,000Public Benefit$5,000

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 budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $20,191,882 over 2y, 36% of budgetUNICORN THEATRE: $316,700 over 6y, 11% of budgetTHE COTERIE INC: $297,290 over 6y, 5.6% of budgetMUSICAL THEATER HERITAGE INC: $241,000 over 7y, 6.1% of budgetKANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC: $212,000 over 7y, 9.4% of budgetHEART OF AMERICA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $197,500 over 6y, 5.6% of budgetMESNER PUPPET THEATER: $121,600 over 5y, 13% of budgetKAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $120,898 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetFISHTANK THEATRE INC: $118,500 over 5y, 92% of budgetSPINNING TREE THEATRE: $115,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BLACK REPERTORY COMPANY INC: $110,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetKC FRINGE FESTIVAL INC: $105,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetLYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetKANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetBLACK REPERTORY THEATRE OF KANSAS CITY: $89,510 over 5y, 17% of budgetPERFORMING ARTS FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY: $81,235 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetKANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES INC: $70,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetKC MELTING POT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS: $65,000 over 3y, 64% of budgetKC CREATES INC: $60,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetTHEATRE FOR YOUNG AMERICA INC: $57,500 over 4y, 11% of budgetLIVING ROOM COLLECTIVE: $51,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetKANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJUST OFF BROADWAY THEATRE ASSOCIATION: $40,000 over 2y, 42% of budgetArts Engagement Foundation of Kansas City: $40,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetRED MOUNTAIN THEATRE COMPANY INC: $33,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTENNESSEE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $30,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGREAT RIVER SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $30,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetThe Shakespeare Festival of Dallas dba Shakespeare Dallas: $30,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetUMKC FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetQUINTESSENCE THEATRE GROUP INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetAtlanta Shakespeare Company Inc: $30,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetGamut Theatre Group: $30,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetTOLEDO REPERTOIRE COMPANY: $27,500 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetQUALITY HILL PRODUCTIONS: $25,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetPRAGUE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY AMERICA: $20,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSPANISH THEATRE REPERTORY COMPANY LTD: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CORPORATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTECO THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSan Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company: $20,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGALA INC GRUPO DE ARTISTAS LATINO AMERICANOS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTOLEDO CULTURAL ARTS CENTER INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetAFRICAN-AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetSt Louis Black Repertory Company Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF MONTANA SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS: $20,000 over 2y, 1.6% 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 Shubert Foundatio…Arts Midwest Incorpor…Muriel McBrien Kauffm…The Francis Family Fo…Richard J Stern Found…Theatre Communication…Copaken Family Founda…The Andrew W Mellon F…Jewish Community Foun…Greater Kansas City C…Doris Duke Charitable…Metropolitan Arts Cou…
The Shubert Foundation IncNY104.2× affinity56 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Shubert Foundation Inc · Arts Midwest Incorporated · Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation · The Francis Family Foundation · Richard J Stern Foundation for the Arts Commerce Bank Trustee · Theatre Communications Group Inc · Copaken Family Foundation · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City · Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc · Metropolitan Arts Council of Greater Kansas City

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 Theater League Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Theater League Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Delaware Shakespeare Festival Inc: 18% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: 16% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Miracle Theatre Group: 6% of income from government
  • Oregon Contemporary Theatre: 5% of income from government
  • The Theater Offensive Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Adventure Theatre Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
51report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Theater League Inc?

Find your warmest path to Theater League Inc 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 146 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Theater League’s 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