Texas · Nonprofit
DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC
DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC (Texas) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,812,300 to it, the largest being MARCH FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,105,000). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $7.8M
- Net assets
- $9.1M
What Dallas Childrens Theater Inc does
Mission
The mission of dallas children's theater is to inspire young people to creative and productive lives through the art of theater.to give rise to inspiring theater, dallas children's theater:- creates and produces innovative professional theater for a multi-generational audience through original works, world premieres, literary classics, folk and fairy tales, and contemporary drama;- employs and collaborates with acclaimed professional artists;- develops dynamic programs that integrate arts into curriculaenriching language skills, learning processes, and promoting an early appreciation for the arts by bringing literature to life;- builds bridges of understanding between generations and cultures through the timeless and universal voice and language of theater's multisensory approach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Dct's theater production season offers plays for family audiences on a wide array of topics and themes, from favorite classics to works based on popular children's literature to relevant, edgy teen issues and current conversations relating to social issues. Dct offers musicals, dramas and everything in between to delight and inspire all ages. Dct annually reaches an average of over 90,000 persons through this offering; most significant are student matinee performances whereby student sponsors (districts or ptas) receive discounted tickets and free study guides are available online for curriculum-related activities. Dct also offers free or deeply discounted tickets to children and families that do not naturally think of theater as a top form of entertainment for various reasons including historic racial disparities, and for title 1 schools. Productions adapted for children with sensory sensitivities continue to be a part of the season as well. Professional actors and teaching artists go into libraries and other community venues as a way of both introducing the concept of theater to some audiences and creating a deeper connection between dct and others. Presentations can include…
$2,358,851 spent$986,117 earned by the program73% of program spendingDct's educational programs include the dct academy which offers year-round classes to more than 1,100 children, ages 3-18. In-person classes are offered in beginning to advanced theater arts and taught by degreed theater professionals with focus on the development of imagination, communication skills, collaborative problem-solving, and performance techniques. Dct also has dedicated sensory-friendly classes. Additionally, after school drama classes are created and administered by dct to benefit youth through after school satellite theater arts programs. The curtains up on reading program is an in-school and summer program integrating drama, literature, language arts, social studies, and history. Dct artists-in-residence collaborate with educators in dallas area elementary schools to incorporate the arts into the core curriculum for over 2,300 students. Scholarship opportunities are offered so that dct class offerings are affordable and accessible to all.
$869,138 spent$358,938 earned by the program27% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,227,989.
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 2020 to 2021, from $9.1M to $9.9M (+9%).
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 4% · 2018 4% · 2019 10% · 2020 6% · 2021 41% · 2022 28% · 2023 18% · 2024 15% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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.
Board chair
Todd Ranta
Trustee/chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $437k → $1.1M.
15 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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
DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
37% 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 DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 32% · 2019 21% · 2020 32% · 2021 19% · 2022 18% · 2023 15% — 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
73% of DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
88% of DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC is better cushioned than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $35k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$35k
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 DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER 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 DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC?
- DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC (Texas) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,812,300 to it, the largest being MARCH FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,105,000). 44 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $7,812,300 in grants to DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC, 44 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC?
- MARCH FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,105,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DALLAS CHILDRENS THEATER INC 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 Dallas Childrens Theater →
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 60 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