Minnesota · Nonprofit
BALLET WORKS INC
BALLET WORKS INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,539,391 to it, the largest being SEWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($445,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $419k
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $0
What Ballet Works Inc does
Mission
To transform dance, artists and audiences through rich collaboration, education, and equitable opportunities
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Ballet works dissolved its operations on june 30, 2025
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Ballet Works Inc. (dba james sewell ballet) presents original dance works created and performed by professional choreographers and dancers who bring a unique and compelling vision to the realm of movement arts in the greater midwest. James sewell ballet performances, as well as outreach and education programs reach tens of thousands of audience members and program participants each year, and the organization is particularly dedicated to bringing dance directly into the lives of young people throughout the region. Additionally, james sewell ballet rents out studio space for ballet practices and education.
$363,690 spent$418,209 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $363,690.
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 $151k to $0 (−100%).
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 9% · 2018 7% · 2019 6% · 2020 7% · 2021 31% · 2022 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of BALLET WORKS INC’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. 6 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.
Chief executive
Eve Schulte
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $113k → $92k.
6 of 17 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 BALLET WORKS 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
BALLET WORKS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% 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
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 BALLET WORKS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 34% · 2019 33% · 2020 35% · 2021 47% · 2022 44% · 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.
How long its funders stay
40% of BALLET WORKS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 82% 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
99% of BALLET WORKS INC's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $707k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
BALLET WORKS INC's revenue fell 58% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BALLET WORKS 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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 BALLET WORKS 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 BALLET WORKS INC?
- BALLET WORKS INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,539,391 to it, the largest being SEWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION ($445,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BALLET WORKS INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,539,391 in grants to BALLET WORKS INC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BALLET WORKS INC?
- SEWELL FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $445,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BALLET WORKS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Ballet Works →
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 17 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