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Rhode Island · Nonprofit

BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE

BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE (Rhode Island) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $73,231 to it, the largest being THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION ($33,288). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$252k
Funders on record
9
Grants received
$73k
Net assets
$789k
3/9 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What Blackstone River Theatre does

Mission

None

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. As a cultural arts center, the musical heritage of the blackstone valley, as well as world, roots music, and more have found a home at Blackstone River Theatre since 2000. In addition to weekly concert programming, brt offers occasional children's shows and participatory dances. Brt also features an art gallery of rotating work that showcases local artists. As an arts education center, brt offers the opportunity for members of the community to actively participate in the arts through heritage arts studio classes and workshops. Believing that the arts help cultures connect, Blackstone River Theatre is dedicated to improving arts awareness and providing performance and learning opportunities for diverse participants. As a community center, brt donates or affordably rents out its space for both public and private functions when its programming schedule allows. The traditional and folk arts, handed down from one generation to the next over time and place, are a powerful vehicle for conveying the legacy of a community. Giving a space for this to happen is core to the mission of Blackstone River Theatre.

    $286,982 spent$184,075 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $286,982.

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 ($401k) Expenses 100 ($221k) Net assets 100 ($241k)2018 Revenue 51 ($204k) Expenses 101 ($223k) Net assets 92 ($222k)2019 Revenue 74 ($298k) Expenses 102 ($225k) Net assets 123 ($295k)2020 Revenue 52 ($209k) Expenses 69 ($152k) Net assets 146 ($352k)2021 Revenue 239 ($958k) Expenses 120 ($265k) Net assets 446 ($1.1M)2022 Revenue 44 ($176k) Expenses 164 ($363k) Net assets 400 ($962k)2023 Revenue 53 ($214k) Expenses 175 ($387k) Net assets 360 ($865k)2024 Revenue 63 ($252k) Expenses 183 ($404k) Net assets 328 ($789k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (63)Expenses (183)Net assets (328)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 2020 to 2021, from $352k to $1.1M (+204%).

$274k
$224k
$295k
$352k
$1.1M
$974k
$865k
$789k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 25% · 2018 5% · 2019 3% · 2020 40% · 2021 11% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

18% of BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (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. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$181k
’17
−$19k
’18
$73k
’19
$57k
’20
$693k
’21
−$187k
’22
−$174k
’23
−$153k
’24
20
months of
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

Russell Gusetti

Executive director

Board chair

Peter Langton

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1515161715141312
Joined·+0+2+1+0+2+0+0
No longer listed·0102311
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $15k → $220.

4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 BLACKSTONE RIVER 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

BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% 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

47% 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 BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE.

45%
largest funder
73%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 66% · 2020 70% · 2021 96% · 2022 94% · 2023 60% — 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

33% of BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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

BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 4 states in all.

PA
NJ
RI
CA

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

’19
’20
’22
’23
Rhode Island out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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

BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−61% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve19.6mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−6% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like BLACKSTONE RIVER 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 Rhode Island

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

71% of spending goes to programs.

Program 71%Management 27%Fundraising 3%

Governance

11
board members
91%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

59%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLACKSTONE RIVER 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.

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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 BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE?
BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE (Rhode Island) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $73,231 to it, the largest being THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION ($33,288). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE have?
IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $73,231 in grants to BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE?
THE CHAMPLIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $33,288 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Blackstone River 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 9 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