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Illinois · Nonprofit

Deeply Rooted Productions Inc

Deeply Rooted Productions Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,592,445 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.1M
Funders on record
26
Grants received
$4.6M
Net assets
$3.3M
16/26 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 95%
01What it does

What Deeply Rooted Productions Inc does

Mission

Reimagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, American, and African-American traditions in dance and storytelling.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater reimagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, classical, American, and African-American traditions in dance and storytelling. Through its uncompromising pursuit of excellence, Deeply Rooted demonstrates the transformative power of art and beauty through dance education, performance, and cultural enrichment in Chicago and on the world stage. Deeply Rooted is rooted in traditions of American and African-American dance, storytelling, and universal themes that spark a visceral experience and ignite an emotional response in diverse audiences worldwide.Deeply Rooted collaborates with nationally renowned choreographers, across the spectrum of modern, ballet, and African dance, to reflect contemporary voices.

    $1,456,876 spent$1,094,448 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,456,876.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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.

100 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($940k) Expenses 100 ($790k) Net assets 100 ($398k)2022 Revenue 202 ($1.9M) Expenses 150 ($1.2M) Net assets 279 ($1.1M)2023 Revenue 411 ($3.9M) Expenses 163 ($1.3M) Net assets 928 ($3.7M)2024 Revenue 245 ($2.3M) Expenses 210 ($1.7M) Net assets 1090 ($4.3M)2025 Revenue 116 ($1.1M) Expenses 268 ($2.1M) Net assets 833 ($3.3M)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (116)Expenses (268)Net assets (833)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $1.6M to $4.0M (+159%).

$879k
$1.6M
$4.0M
$4.6M
$3.7M
20212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 4% · 2022 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

64% of Deeply Rooted Productions Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$150k
’21
$712k
’22
$2.6M
’23
$646k
’24
−$1.0M
’25
12
months of
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.

Chief executive

Makeda Crayton

Executive Director

Board chair

Daniel Ash

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20212022202320242025
Listed1212131113
Joined·+1+4+0+3
No longer listed·1321
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 14 funders, grant income rose $1k → $1.5M.

5 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 Deeply Rooted Productions 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

Deeply Rooted Productions Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

35% 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 Deeply Rooted Productions Inc.

44%
largest funder
73%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 64% · 2019 91% · 2020 41% · 2021 64% · 2022 28% · 2023 65% — 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

56% of Deeply Rooted Productions Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

Deeply Rooted Productions Inc draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 7 states in all.

IL
NY
MA
NJ
DE
NC
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $780k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Deeply Rooted Productions Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−94% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve12.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Deeply Rooted Productions 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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

69% of spending goes to programs.

Program 69%Management 15%Fundraising 16%

Governance

12
board members
83%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Deeply Rooted Productions 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.

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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 Deeply Rooted Productions Inc?
Deeply Rooted Productions Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,592,445 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Deeply Rooted Productions Inc have?
IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $4,592,445 in grants to Deeply Rooted Productions Inc, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Deeply Rooted Productions Inc?
THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Deeply Rooted Productions Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Deeply Rooted Productions →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 26 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