Texas · Nonprofit
BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE
BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,702 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($22,929). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $206k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $29k
- Net assets
- $128k
What Bright Lights Theatre does
Mission
Bright Lights Theatre exists to train the next generation as masterful storytellers who share the light of christ. Our organization was founded in 2019 to provide accessible, high-quality, christ-honoring theatre education and training to dallas texas area youth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Blt produced 4 productions during this fiscal year, giving students the opportunity to perform well-known, challenging musicals, while also teaching them to see elements of the gospel of jesus christ in every story.
$78,444 spent$94,792 earned by the program44% of program spendingBlt offered 2 elementary level basic musical theatre master classes during the year. These classes are intended to grow confidence on stage, teach necessary basic musical theatre skills, and give every student a moment to step into the spotlight. They perform a showcase at the end of a 10-week class that is open to family and friends.
$2,051 spent$5,750 earned by the program1% of program spendingBlt offered summer camps that are a week-long process of producing a 45-minute original musical. In just one week, students will audition, be cast, rehearse and perform this musical for family and friends. They will also assist in the technical elements of the show, creating props and portions of the set and designing their own costumes. They will make new friends and learn how this show points us back to gods big story in the bible.
$13,623 spent$46,363 earned by the program8% of program spendingOther program expenses to support mission
$86,132 spent48% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $180,250.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $47k to $102k (+116%).
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.
26% of BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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
Lauren Hensarling
President and exec dir
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $26 → $123.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 BRIGHT LIGHTS 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
BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
81% 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 BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
81% of BRIGHT LIGHTS 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 $6k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from Texas funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BRIGHT LIGHTS 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 BRIGHT LIGHTS 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 BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE?
- BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,702 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($22,929). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $28,702 in grants to BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE?
- COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC is the largest funder on record, with $22,929 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRIGHT LIGHTS THEATRE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Bright Lights Theatre →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 4 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