Tennessee · Nonprofit
CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC
CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,020,198 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($4,191,290). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $7.0M
- Net assets
- $15M
What Circuit Playhouse Inc does
Mission
To produce a challenging and diverse repertoire of theatrical work for the memphis community, to provide a nurturing artistic home where artists can practice their craft, share their talent, and to make all productions available through access, outreach, and educational activities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Theatrical performances: circuit playhouse, inc's primary purpose is to provide permanent professional theatre for the enrichment of the memphis community. Circuit undertakes 14 productions each season. Through our outreach programs, we strive to make each production available to all who wish to attend, regardless of their financial means.
$2,771,279 spent$786,438 earned by the program95% of program spendingUnified professional theatre auditions ("upta") : these combined auditions, held annually in february, provide actors and production personnel the opportunity to be seen by representatives of quality professional theatre companies from across the country.
$124,886 spent$165,041 earned by the program4% of program spendingTheatre for youth: the summer youth conservatory offers instruction for any student interested in theatre, through classes taught by professional artists. The theatre school provides classes in performance for children as well as adults, which gives students the opportunity to expand their performance skills in acting, music, and dance. Q&a, queer youth theatre, provides youth ages 14-21 a theatrical outlet to create awareness within memphis for the lgbtqia and straight allied youth.
$10,236 spent$59,680 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,906,401.
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 2024 to 2025, from $16M to $15M (−6%).
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: 2017 3% · 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 7% · 2021 19% · 2022 26% · 2023 25% · 2024 15% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
54% of CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC’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. 5 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 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $136k → $685k.
7 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE 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
CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 94% · 2019 54% · 2020 49% · 2021 84% · 2022 61% · 2023 73% — 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
55% of CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
63% of CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE 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 $2.6M that is directly attributable, 62% of it comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.4M 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
CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $7.0M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE 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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE 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 CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC?
- CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,020,198 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($4,191,290). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $7,020,198 in grants to CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,191,290 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CIRCUIT PLAYHOUSE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Circuit Playhouse →
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 17 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