South Carolina · Nonprofit
CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC
CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC (South Carolina) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,727,136 to it, the largest being COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC ($713,852). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $186k
What Charleston Stage Company Inc does
Mission
Charleston stage's vision is to be a leading professional theater company, engaging the broad community through high quality productions, with leading artists, and excellent production values. The organization provides the community access to theater through education and outreach programs which engage and excite both youth and adults.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Founded in 1978 by playwright julian wiles, who was most recently inducted into the college of fellows of the american theater in april 2024 at the kennedy center, charleston stage is south carolina's largest professional theater company. Charleston stage is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization residing at the historic dock street theatre. Over its 46-year history, charleston stage has presented over 360 productions and entertained a collective audience of more than two million. Beyond producing engaging, high-quality performances, we are deeply committed to our mission of theatre arts education, employing a staff of professional theatre artists dedicated to sharing their expertise with the next generation.the mission of charleston stage is to produce live theatre of the highest caliber, focusing on classic and contemporary musicals and plays that excite and inspire the imagination. Charleston stage celebrates the spirit of discovery by providing a collaborative learning environment in which theatre professionals share their talents with young people, teachers, and schools in the community, inspiring participants to celebrate their own creativity.
$2,544,202 spent$2,102,826 earned by the program77% of program spendingWhile charleston stage presents high-quality, professional productions at the historic dock street theatre, that is only half the story. Charleston stage boasts one of the largest arts education programs in south carolina, extending opportunities to 30,000 students throughout the lowcountry each year. Charleston stage offers six program initiatives: theatre school acting classes, summer camps, theatre wings high school apprentice program, school matinees, citystage (community outreach), and arts-integrated literacy kits. Acting classes and summer camps enroll over 250 students annually, more than 35 high schoolers receive hands-on training in theatrical production, over 12,000 students attend matinee shows at the dock street theatre, 4,000 students experience free live theatre through citystage, and students across the state gain access to unique arts-integration workshops through literacy kits.
Citystage, an initiative by charleston stage, aims to extend our work beyond the walls of the dock street theatre and into the broader community. The citystage team focuses on expanding partnerships with schools, religious, and community groups in the charleston area. This initiative not only brings the work of charleston stage into these communities but also provides support and professional theatre resources to enhance the missions of these organizations, fostering true two-way partnerships.
$753,500 spent$436,422 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,297,702.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.6M to $2.6M (+61%).
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 21% · 2022 41%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
30% of CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $153k → $186k.
10 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 63% · 2019 73% · 2020 38% · 2021 32% · 2022 58% · 2023 19% — 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
45% of CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
54% of CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC'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 $797k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from funders outside South Carolina, across 13 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $931k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC has grown faster than half 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
Organizations like CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY 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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY 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 CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC?
- CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC (South Carolina) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,727,136 to it, the largest being COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC ($713,852). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $1,727,136 in grants to CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC?
- COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC is the largest funder on record, with $713,852 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 Charleston Stage Company →
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 32 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