Massachusetts · Nonprofit
CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC
CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $267,510 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($67,600). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $688k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $268k
- Net assets
- $728k
What Chester Theatre Company Inc does
Mission
Chester theatre company produces contemporary professional equity theatre in an intimate setting, creating community and offering audiences fresh perspectives on vital issues. We present exceptional performances, tell diverse stories, hold important conversations, lead theatre trips, educate across generations, and develop and support new work. We are committed to theatre as a means to explore and celebrate our shared humanity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
See schedule ofounded in 1990, chester theatre company is an award-winning institution that produces four plays each summer in the town hall theatre of chester, ma. Each year, approximately 5,000 people attend its productions, which are followed by thought-provoking talkbacks, cast conversations, or panel discussions at specific performances. Productions from the summer of 2024 included: "the thin place," "unreconciled," "will sacrifice, and "big big sky."the company hosts two eagerly awaited and well-attended theatre tours annually: a spring trip to london and a fall trip to another destination, such as chicago, washington dc, and toronto. In the spring of 2024 we led a group to london and in the fall we went to the shaw festival in canada.
$648,213 spent$448,369 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $648,213.
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 2017 to 2018, from $253k to $650k (+157%).
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 10% · 2022 4% · 2023 16% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
34% of CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $500 → $49k.
6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC’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
CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
72% 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 CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 59% · 2019 32% · 2020 67% · 2021 35% · 2022 59% · 2023 25% — 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 CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
72% of CHESTER THEATRE 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 $74k that is directly attributable, 57% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $194k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC has grown faster than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $230k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$230k
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 CHESTER THEATRE 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 Massachusetts
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
84%
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 CHESTER THEATRE 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 CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC?
- CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $267,510 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($67,600). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $267,510 in grants to CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS is the largest funder on record, with $67,600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHESTER THEATRE COMPANY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Chester Theatre Company →
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 16 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