Washington · Nonprofit
A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC
A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC (Washington) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,624,982 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($2,584,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 49
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $-1778187
What A Contemporary Theatre Inc does
Mission
Organization mission: act is a contemporary theatre where artistic ambition and civic engagement unite. Organization vision: act envisions a world where the power of theatre expands our collective understanding of community and our own humanity. Founded in 1965, act is a seattle landmark and has made a significant and lasting contribution to the vitality of seattles downtown neighborhood and arts community. For more than fifty years, the organization has valued and elevated the work of local artists, fostered community connection, and transformed individual lives through the power of storytelling. Act is committed to making theatre an act of citizenship by engaging audiences in dialogue about the issues of our time and connecting authentically with new audiences, partners, and communities. On july 1, 2025, subsequent to the end of the fiscal year, act merged with seattle shakespeare company to form union arts center.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
During the 20242025 fiscal year, act produced a five-play season. The season included potus by selina fillinger; two world premieres, mrs. Loman is leaving by katie forgette and golden by andrew lee creech; the last five years by jason robert brown; and twelfth night by william shakespeare. Twelfth night was a co-production with seattle shakespeare company and marked the first joint production as the organizations moved toward their july 1 merger. Act continued to fulfill its mission of captivating, challenging, and inspiring audiences through high-quality theatrical programming. In november 2024, act staged the second annual new works northwest festival, featuring readings of new plays by regional and nationally recognized playwrights, including underwater weather by holly arsenault; legacies: a ghost story by amontaine aurore; home by naghmeh samini; uhuru by gloria majule; and refugee rhapsody by yussef el guindi. To advance economic accessibility and reduce financial barriers to participation, act continued its pay-what-you-choose ticketing program. Every performance offered a minimum of twenty (20) pay-what-you-choose seats across all seating sections, available for advance…
$4,206,369 spent$1,139,575 earned by the program77% of program spendingAct produced its 49th annual staging of a christmas carol, serving 10,869 single-ticket patrons. The organization also maintained its education offerings by producing two sold-out student matinees, providing theatrical experiences for 850 students and teachers.
$1,058,162 spent$1,367,000 earned by the program19% of program spendingActs education programs develop community members as both artists and civic participants through experiential theatre training grounded in engagement and community building. Acts flagship education initiative is the young core company (ycc), a teen-focused program designed to be welcoming and inclusive for participants of all backgrounds. Ycc operates on a pay-what-you-choose tuition model to eliminate cost as a barrier to participation. The program is offered quarterly, allowing students to participate year-round or for a single session based on individual availability and interest.
$169,809 spent$32,030 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,434,340.
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.
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 $3.0M to $1.8M (−39%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 5% · 2022 45% · 2023 18% · 2024 11% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Cynthia Huffman
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 23 funders, grant income fell $986k → $965k.
15 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest A Contemporary Theatre Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 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
A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
80% 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 A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 62% · 2019 30% · 2020 47% · 2021 18% · 2022 42% · 2023 41% — 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
47% of A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.
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
66% of A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE 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 $2.6M that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC's revenue fell 32% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $80k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$80k
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 A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Eagles Theatre Centre · exempt
- A Contemporary Theatre Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE 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 A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC?
- A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC (Washington) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,624,982 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($2,584,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC have?
- IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $7,624,982 in grants to A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,584,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like A CONTEMPORARY THEATRE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 A Contemporary Theatre →
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 49 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