California · Nonprofit
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $49,181,774 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($25,324,000). 80 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 121
- Grants received
- $49M
- Net assets
- $41M
What Berkeley Repertory Theatre does
Mission
Please see schedule o for the complete mission statement.Berkeley Repertory Theatre creates ambitious theatre that entertains and challenges its audiences, provokes civic engagement, and inspires people to experience the world in new and surprising ways. Known for its core values of storytelling, rigor, innovation, equity, discovery, and sustainability, berkeley rep draws theatre artists from around the country and the world to produce an annual seven-play season and up to four additional special event presentations that invite audiences to enjoy an eclectic range of theatrical experiences featuring diverse artistic voices, themes, and perspectives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Mainstage productions: Berkeley Repertory Theatre opened its 2024/25 season with the west coast premiere of the electrifying live-looped musical "mexodus" from multitalented creators brian quijada and nygel d. Robinson, which subsequently transferred off-broadway, followed by the west coast premieres of mary zimmerman's "the matchbox magic flute and jocelyn bioh's "jaja's african hair braiding." in february 2025, we debuted the world premiere of "the thing about jellyfish," a visually stunning adaptation by keith bunin of ali benjamin's new york times bestselling novel, alongside conor mcpherson's acclaimed adaptation of anton chekov classic "uncle vanya" featuring hugh bonneville in the title role. "uncle vanya" was a huge hit with berkeley rep's audiences, breaking the house record for (continued on schedule o)the peet's theatre. In april, we followed up with another play that resonated deeply with audiences, welcoming tectonic theater project's "here there are blueberries" by moises kaufman and amanda gronich onto our roda theatre stage. To close out the season, we produced the world premiere of "the aves," a new play by jiehae park. Alongside these productions, berkeley rep…
$17,191,905 spent$10,652,093 earned by the program86% of program spendingBerkeley rep school of theatre: marking 40 years of arts education at berkeley rep, in 2024/25, our school of theatre served over 13,000 youth and life-long learners through school of theatre programming. A throughline across our work this year was a focus on deepening connections with and between the communities we serve, growing existing relationships with school partners, connecting young people through storytelling, and building points of connection between our teen leaders and mainstage audience. Through in-school residencies, the school reached over 1,500 students across 41 bay area schools, providing high-quality arts education across the region, including several title 1 schools. Our student matinees welcomed over 1,400 middle and high school students to attend (continued on schedule o) our mainstage productions, augmented with pre-show workshops and post-show conversations with the artists. We hosted our third annual high school theatre festival, in which 115 students from four area high schools received pre-professional training, as well as devised and showcased one-act performances to nearly 250 audience members. Our teen council programs engaged nearly 600…
$1,336,492 spent$576,912 earned by the program7% of program spendingThe ground floor: berkeley rep's center for the creation and development of new work has grown into a nationally recognized program and leading theatrical incubator that has served over 1,000 artists and been part of the developmental journey of hundreds of projects that have appeared on stages at berkeley rep, on broadway, and around the world. Selected from nearly 800 applicant projects, berkeley rep's 2025 ground floor summer residency lab brought together over 120 local and national artists over four weeks to develop 24 projects in a flexible, supportive environment. One such work was "mother of exiles," which will have its world premiere at berkeley rep in the 2025/26 season. Nearly 600 audience members engaged with work-in-progress showings during the summer residency lab. (continued on schedule o)through the ground floor, berkeley rep also produced a pre-broadway workshop of the musical "galileo," which premiered at berkeley rep in the 2023/24 season, allowing the creative team to further refine the piece. Due to the robust artistic development offered through the ground floor, five productions developed and/or premiered by berkeley rep have gone on to broadway or…
$1,062,460 spent5% of program spendingAll other programs: berkeley rep's in dialogue program partnered with 28 creatives, community organizations and small businesses in 2024/25. Throughout the season, we engaged 2,500 audience and community members through events and activations in conversation with our mainstage productions. Our six community celebration nights during the 2024/25 season filled our spaces with music, food, community, and joy. These free, public events included pre-show performances featuring local artists and performers with refreshments from local businesses; post-show conversations; and discounted tickets. We partnered with community leaders and organizations to engage in pre- and post-show dialogues that connected the themes explored in our onstage productions to real-life issues affecting our local community. We continued relationships with ongoing partners to offer storytelling workshops and to make our spaces available as rehearsal and performance venues.
$286,660 spentof which $175,251 as grants$5,437 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,877,517.
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 2018 to 2019, from $48M to $75M (+55%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 12% · 2021 31% · 2022 26% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Sandra Eggers
Governance comm chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $1.9M → $2.9M.
29 of 121 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 121 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
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
76% 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 BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 14% · 2019 15% · 2020 28% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 2023 18% — 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
48% of BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
75% of BERKELEY REPERTORY 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 $12M that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $37M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $49M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $420k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$420k
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 BERKELEY REPERTORY 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 BERKELEY REPERTORY 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 BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE?
- BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $49,181,774 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($25,324,000). 80 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE have?
- IRS filings report 121 organizations giving $49,181,774 in grants to BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE, 80 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $25,324,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 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.
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 121 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