California · Nonprofit
Cutting Ball Theater
Cutting Ball Theater (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,395,627 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($315,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $313k
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $81k
What Cutting Ball Theater does
Mission
The description of Cutting Ball Theater's mission starts on Form 990 Page 1 and continues on Schedule O
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Producing Theater-----------------Cutting Ball Theater Produces Theatrical performances for the general public of experimental new works and re-envisioned classics.
$492,651 spent$24,230 earned by the program92% of program spendingEducation Program-----------------Cutting Ball Serves the youth of the Tenderloin through educational outreach programs: dinner and a show at the theater, onsite theater classes, and paid internships.
$45,101 spent8% of program spendingCutting Ball's Productions--------------------------Cutting Ball Theater is an experimental theater, presenting plays in our intimate space, to connect Bay Area audiences and artists through shared moments of live storytelling. Our plays center historically-excluded voices and experiences, and challenge the norms of how stories are told. We support artists in exploring their creativity, in working environments where personal well-being is our priority. The Tenderloin of San Francisco is our home, and we are committed to being an accountable partner to our neighbors.
The 3 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $537,752.
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 $666k to $175k (−74%).
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: 2018 5% · 2019 8% · 2020 25% · 2022 39% · 2023 56% · 2024 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of Cutting Ball Theater’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 7 funders, grant income fell $98k → $67k.
8 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Cutting Ball Theater’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
Cutting Ball Theater has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
30% 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 Cutting Ball Theater.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 36% · 2019 18% · 2020 39% · 2021 15% · 2022 22% · 2023 22% — 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
43% of Cutting Ball Theater's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% 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
80% of Cutting Ball 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. $402k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Cutting Ball Theater's revenue fell 54% between 2018 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Cutting Ball 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
48% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 Cutting Ball 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 Cutting Ball Theater?
- Cutting Ball Theater (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,395,627 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($315,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Cutting Ball Theater have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $1,395,627 in grants to Cutting Ball Theater, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Cutting Ball Theater?
- THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $315,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Cutting Ball 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 Cutting Ball Theater →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 29 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