Illinois · Nonprofit
A Red Orchid Theatre
A Red Orchid Theatre (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $666,191 to it, the largest being THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION INC ($110,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $803k
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $666k
- Net assets
- $713k
What A Red Orchid Theatre does
Mission
A Red Orchid Theatre is an ensemble of artists dedicated to the proliferation of live theatre in the modern world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Produced 2-3 full productions per year (FY24-3 shows; FY25-2 shows), a free reading series (Taste of Red) in FY25, we hosted 6 readings in FY25, Our Incubator program which provides free or deeply discounted space to emerging theatre artists, Studio-a weekly, pay-as-you-can Actors Gym, A Red OrchED-occasional classes taught by ensemble members
$452,396 spent$170,507 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $452,396.
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 $501k to $745k (+49%).
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: 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of A Red Orchid Theatre’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Jane Madden
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $51k → $121k.
7 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 A Red Orchid Theatre’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
A Red Orchid Theatre has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
42% 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 Red Orchid Theatre.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 46% · 2019 45% · 2020 36% · 2021 32% · 2022 52% · 2023 33% — 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
24% of A Red Orchid Theatre's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
A Red Orchid Theatre draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $221k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 Red Orchid Theatre runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like A Red Orchid Theatre
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for A Red Orchid Theatre: 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 Red Orchid Theatre?
- A Red Orchid Theatre (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $666,191 to it, the largest being THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION INC ($110,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does A Red Orchid Theatre have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $666,191 in grants to A Red Orchid Theatre, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of A Red Orchid Theatre?
- THE SHUBERT FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $110,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like A Red Orchid Theatre find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Red Orchid 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 27 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