California · Nonprofit
BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER
BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,805,593 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($535,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Bob Baker Marionette Theater does
Mission
To preserve, educate, and innovate at the intersection of puppetry and the allied arts.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In house performances: Bob Baker Marionette Theater is an iconic los angeles institution that has provided creativity, joy, and imagination to our community since 1963. Our nonprofit theater serves an intergenerational audience of over 125,000 people annually through our cultural and educational programs and impactful, immersive performances. Bbmt's work and community is centered at our highland park theater-our home since relocating in 2019-where we host a rotating series of five annual shows, field trips (for majority title 1 schools), workshops, and special events in collaboration with a variety of los angeles-based artists and cultural creators.
$1,543,739 spent$1,227,986 earned by the program81% of program spendingArts education: bbmt's arts education programs consist of regular morning and afternoon field trips throughout the week which include an in-theater performance which is often a student's first live theater experience, followed by a hands-on workshop demonstrating artistic practices related to the performance. Bbmt's field trips are aimed at elementary school-aged youth. We provide teachers and students with curriculum and lesson plans which can be used for pre- and post-field trip in-classroom learning and are core-standard aligned. Bbmt enriches the lives of people young and old through exposure to our multidimensional performances which are entry points for exploration of art, music, dance, and storytelling.
$76,234 spent4% of program spendingCommunity traveling shows: the exempt organization performs across the county of los angeles with its touring company including at venues such as the ford, hollyhock house and pico union project. As a non-profit organization, the exempt organization introduces the art of puppetry to thousands of students annually through traveling shows at schools and parks in underserved and vulnerable neighborhoods where children are less likely to experience the social-emotional and educational benefits of visiting the theater. By providing mobile performances, the exempt organization has expanded its audience from 40,000 in-house attendees to more than 120,000 members of its broader community.
$285,877 spent$574,795 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,905,850.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.1M to $4.3M (+301%).
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: 2021 28% · 2022 9% · 2023 6% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
49% of BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $31k → $391k.
12 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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
BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 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 BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 32% · 2020 55% · 2021 25% · 2022 55% · 2023 33% — broadly stable.
“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
18% of BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 30% 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
84% of BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $811k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER: 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 BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER?
- BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,805,593 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($535,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $1,805,593 in grants to BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER?
- PERENCHIO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $535,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATER 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.
Play a game about who funds Bob Baker Marionette Theater →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 43 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