New York · Nonprofit
54 BELOW INC
54 BELOW INC (New York) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,194,787 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT W WILSON CHARITABLE TRUST ($435,001). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.6M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $-5738778
What 54 Below Inc does
Mission
At 54 below, our mission is to preserve and expand the art of the cabaret while providing an unparalleled audience experience. We're committed to growing opportunities for diverse communities of emerging and established artists and to expanding their audiences. We aim to present work that is vivid, immediate, enlightening and entertaining that reflects the world around us and the imagination of the artists. We honor the cabaret tradition and the music and community of broadway by pursuing excellence in content, performance, hospitality and cuisine.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization works to foster and promote the understanding and appreciation of the performing arts and the art form of the american cabaret, specializing in the music, history and performers of the american musical theatre and the great american songbook. The organization operates a classic cabaret theater that features performances of the above music plus occasionally classical music and opera. The organization also serves as a laboratory for the development of new music and musicals, a training ground for nascent artists, a home for more established artists to broaden their repertoire, and a place for collective sotrytelling and gathering.
$8,250,523 spentof which $240 as grants$7,216,476 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,250,523.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $3.1M to $2.4M (−21%).
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.
16% of 54 BELOW INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
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.
Board chair
Thomas Viertel
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
9 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 54 BELOW INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
54 BELOW INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
46% 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 54 BELOW INC.
“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.
Where its funders are
82% of 54 BELOW INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $553k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Against its field
54 BELOW INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like 54 BELOW 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- 54 Below LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 54 BELOW 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.
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 54 BELOW INC?
- 54 BELOW INC (New York) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,194,787 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT W WILSON CHARITABLE TRUST ($435,001). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does 54 BELOW INC have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $1,194,787 in grants to 54 BELOW INC, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of 54 BELOW INC?
- THE ROBERT W WILSON CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $435,001 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like 54 BELOW INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 54 Below →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2023–2024), and the filings of 29 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing