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Virginia · Nonprofit

1ST STAGE INC

1ST STAGE INC (Virginia) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,827,988 to it, the largest being ARTS COUNCIL OF FAIRFAX COUNTY INC ($410,358). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$2.1M
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$2.2M
16/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 22%
01What it does

What 1st Stage Inc does

Mission

1st stage believes that great communities require great art, and we are committed to being the cultural center of the tysons region. 1st stage is committed to the performance of texts that provide substantial depth for audiences and artists alike. 1st stage is committed to creating a home for the area's most talented artists, both established and emerging. 1st stage is committed to providing these artists with the resources to develop and present their best work in an intimate setting that unleashes the full magic of theatre and excites the mind, heart, and soul.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Theater productions and training for actors and technicians.in the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025, 1st stage produced live performances and numerours online classes, readings and recordings.

    $1,152,815 spent$228,486 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,152,815.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($570k) Expenses 100 ($567k) Net assets 100 ($139k)2018 Revenue 130 ($740k) Expenses 116 ($659k) Net assets 129 ($180k)2019 Revenue 151 ($858k) Expenses 138 ($781k) Net assets 185 ($257k)2021 Revenue 200 ($1.1M) Expenses 103 ($582k) Net assets 1093 ($1.5M)2022 Revenue 180 ($1.0M) Expenses 176 ($996k) Net assets 1080 ($1.5M)2024 Revenue 220 ($1.3M) Expenses 223 ($1.3M) Net assets 980 ($1.4M)2025 Revenue 364 ($2.1M) Expenses 229 ($1.3M) Net assets 1551 ($2.2M)
2017201820192021202220242025
Revenue (364)Expenses (229)Net assets (1551)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.8M to $2.5M (+42%).

$139k
$219k
$292k
$1.6M
$1.5M
$1.8M
$2.5M
2017201820192021202220242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2021
2022
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 22% · 2022 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

86% of 1ST STAGE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$3k
’17
$80k
’18
$77k
’19
$558k
’21
$28k
’22
−$9k
’24
$772k
’25
5.6
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

2017201820192021202220242025
Listed14131413131415
Joined·+3+2·+0·+2
No longer listed·41·0·1
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $30k → $346k.

9 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of 1ST STAGE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 20 of 21 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

1ST STAGE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

73% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund 1ST STAGE INC.

22%
largest funder
51%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 72% · 2019 57% · 2020 28% · 2021 23% · 2022 22% · 2023 29% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

54% of 1ST STAGE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

51% of 1ST STAGE INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $900k that is directly attributable, 56% of it comes from Virginia funders.

IL
NY
VA
DE
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Virginia out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $928k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

1ST STAGE INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin37% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding 1ST STAGE INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $60k on record.

Federal$60k
grants $60kcontracts $0
18
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$60k

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like 1ST STAGE INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Virginia

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

89% of spending goes to programs.

Program 89%Management 10%Fundraising 1%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

VA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 1ST STAGE INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds 1ST STAGE INC?
1ST STAGE INC (Virginia) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,827,988 to it, the largest being ARTS COUNCIL OF FAIRFAX COUNTY INC ($410,358). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does 1ST STAGE INC have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,827,988 in grants to 1ST STAGE INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of 1ST STAGE INC?
ARTS COUNCIL OF FAIRFAX COUNTY INC is the largest funder on record, with $410,358 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like 1ST STAGE INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

Play a game about who funds 1st Stage →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 21 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing