New York · Nonprofit
BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC
BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC (New York) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,166,333 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($5,170,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Billie Holiday Theatre Inc does
Mission
The goal of the Billie Holiday Theatre is to provide audiences with complete and authentic portrayals of the experiences of people of African descent across the world. To provide artists of African descent pure and unapologetic artistic freedom. We do this by producing and presenting all forms of art, and by challenging unjust systems that would prevent artists, institutions, and communities full access to world-class arts, creative spaces, and resources.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
The Blackseed Program concluded during fiscal year ende June 30, 2025.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Artistic Programming & Education:BHT instituted two new programs: Billie & Beyond and Black Narrative. Billie & Beyond is a four part music series spotlighting emerging and mid-professional female singers and musicians. This dynamic music series has become a community favorite. Black Narrative is a biannual theatre series in which BHT partners with local collectives and organizations to produce and curate staged readings, multiperformance art, and conversations. This series allows BHT to remain as a creative voice in theater. We continued our annual EVIDENCE performance, SummerFest programming, and so much more.In the visual arts world, BHT continued with its RESISTANCE exhibition series and received high praise for its new exhibition series, which began with We Love You, Black Woman.In FY25, the Youth Arts Academy (YAA) engaged approximately 100 students from New York City public schools through a diverse range of arts classes, including Drama, Drumming, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary Modern, Break Dance, Hip Hop Dance, and West African Dance (Guinea and Sabar styles). For young dancers aged 3 to 5, we offered a Pre-Ballet class that introduced foundational ballet techniques while…
$2,575,450 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,575,450.
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 2022 to 2023, from $8.5M to $4.8M (−43%).
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 50% · 2018 22% · 2019 23% · 2020 9% · 2021 2% · 2022 10% · 2023 17% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Dr Durell Cooper
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $96k → $744k.
4 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $74k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 73% · 2018 56% · 2019 73% · 2020 76% · 2021 33% · 2022 32% · 2023 40% — 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
35% of BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
98% of BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $156k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$50k
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 BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE 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 BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC?
- BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC (New York) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,166,333 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($5,170,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $11,166,333 in grants to BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,170,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BILLIE HOLIDAY THEATRE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 34 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