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California · Nonprofit

ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE

ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $360,781 to it, the largest being NOVO FOUNDATION ($155,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$119k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$361k
Net assets
$52k
6/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 64%
01What it does

What Alternative Theater Ensemble does

Mission

To promote appreciation of, interest in, and understanding of drama and dramatic arts; and to create artistic experiences that forge bonds of humanity between and among individuals, artists, and audience.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. AlterLab - New play development activities such as readings, workshops, commissions, and productions.continued on Sch. O

    $112,920 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $112,920.

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 ($55k) Expenses 100 ($57k) Net assets -104 ($-11858)2018 Revenue 113 ($62k) Expenses 97 ($55k) Net assets -40 ($-4586)2019 Revenue 68 ($37k) Expenses 64 ($36k) Net assets -31 ($-3578)2020 Revenue 115 ($63k) Expenses 85 ($48k) Net assets 100 ($11k)2021 Revenue 138 ($76k) Expenses 89 ($51k) Net assets 321 ($37k)2022 Revenue 289 ($159k) Expenses 273 ($155k) Net assets 337 ($39k)2023 Revenue 700 ($384k) Expenses 318 ($180k) Net assets 2120 ($243k)2024 Revenue 150 ($82k) Expenses 455 ($258k) Net assets 588 ($67k)2025 Revenue 217 ($119k) Expenses 237 ($134k) Net assets 451 ($52k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (217)Expenses (237)Net assets (451)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 2022 to 2023, from $39k to $248k (+542%).

$0
$0
$0
$11k
$37k
$39k
$248k
$78k
$54k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

70% of ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$2k
’17
$7k
’18
$1k
’19
$15k
’20
$25k
’21
$4k
’22
$204k
’23
−$175k
’24
−$16k
’25
10
months of
reserve
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $6k → $145k.

2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE’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

ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

34% 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 ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE.

43%
largest funder
71%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 71% · 2021 100% · 2022 49% · 2023 34% — 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

100% of ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE draws 71% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 4 states in all.

WA
NY
NJ
CA

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

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE has grown faster than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $70k on record.

Federal$70k
grants $70kcontracts $0
19
20
21
22
23
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$70k

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 ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE

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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Public support

71%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE: 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.

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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 ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE?
ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $360,781 to it, the largest being NOVO FOUNDATION ($155,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $360,781 in grants to ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE?
NOVO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $155,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ALTERNATIVE THEATER ENSEMBLE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Alternative Theater Ensemble →

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 11 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