Colorado · Nonprofit
BACKSTORY THEATRE
BACKSTORY THEATRE (Colorado) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,933 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($53,020). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $155k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $88k
- Net assets
- $11k
What Backstory Theatre does
Mission
To provide affordable performing arts education and performance opportunities for children and families, and accessible live theatre production opportunities for Broomfield, Colorado, and surrounding communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Program
BackStory Theatre offers theatrically based enrichment programs designed to build and connect community through classes and camps, youth productions and community outreach. In 2024, BackStory collaborated with 3,589 participants, youth and adults of all ages, through its programs!
$148,538 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $148,538.
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 2019 to 2020, from $26k to $55k (+111%).
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.
32% of BACKSTORY THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Mary Wilkie
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $17k → $21k.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 BACKSTORY 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
BACKSTORY THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 BACKSTORY THEATRE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 54% · 2022 41% · 2023 35% — 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.
Where its funders are
80% of BACKSTORY THEATRE'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 $18k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k 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.
Against its field
BACKSTORY THEATRE's revenue grew 32% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like BACKSTORY 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
79%
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 BACKSTORY 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 BACKSTORY THEATRE?
- BACKSTORY THEATRE (Colorado) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,933 to it, the largest being COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION ($53,020). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BACKSTORY THEATRE have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $87,933 in grants to BACKSTORY THEATRE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BACKSTORY THEATRE?
- COLORADO GIVES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $53,020 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BACKSTORY THEATRE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Backstory Theatre →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 4 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