Delaware · Nonprofit
DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC
DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC (Delaware) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $858,058 to it, the largest being LONGWOOD FOUNDATION INC ($275,300). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $388k
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $858k
- Net assets
- $76k
What Delaware Shakespeare Festival Inc does
Mission
Inspired by Shakespeare's creative vision and the broad societal mix of audiences of his era, Delaware Shakespeare Festival brings our community together for vibrant theatre and learning experiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
SUMMER FESTIVAL: The Summer Festival presents a professional Shakespeare production each July on the grounds of Rockwood park in New Castle, Delaware. Ticket prices for the Summer Festival are kept low so that many members of the community can attend. Picnicking and pre-show entertainment create a relaxed, informal environment for the whole family. Revenue includes ticketing fees, concessions, etc. shown on Schedule O.
$168,759 spent$61,248 earned by the program53% of program spendingCOMMUNITY TOUR: The community tour brings a professional Shakespeare production to individuals with limited or no access to the arts with performances in locations such as homeless shelters, detention facilities, and centers for individuals with cognitive or physical disabilities. Performances are offered throughout the state at no charge to partner organizations. Revenue includes ticketing fees, concessions, etc. reported on Schedule O.
$84,365 spent$127,285 earned by the program27% of program spendingEDUCATION PROGRAMMING: The central programs bring theatre education class to low-to-moderate income youth, including classes in area juvenile justice facilities. In a normal year, the organization also operates college apprentice and high school internship programs with its Summer Festival.
$22,338 spent$14,718 earned by the program7% of program spendingSeasonal Programming: Actors take the stage for music, poetry, and readings from Shakespeare and related works for Valentine's Day and Halloween. Revenue includes ticketing fees.
$40,170 spent$18,469 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $315,632.
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 2021 to 2022, from $314k to $173k (−45%).
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 8% · 2020 28% · 2021 59% · 2022 51% · 2023 23% · 2024 26% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
75% of DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC’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. 3 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.
Board chair
Vanesa Simon
Acting Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $69k → $86k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 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
DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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
42% 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 DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 94% · 2019 39% · 2020 24% · 2021 51% · 2022 40% · 2023 35% — broadly stable.
“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
50% of DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
55% of DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC's grant income comes from Delaware funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $158k 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
DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 10 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $515k on record — $200k federal, $315k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$200k
- GRANTS$284k
- FED GRANT SUB RECIPIENT$15k
- GRANTS IN AID$11k
- STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$3k
- INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES$3k
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 DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 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 Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 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 DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC?
- DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC (Delaware) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $858,058 to it, the largest being LONGWOOD FOUNDATION INC ($275,300). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $858,058 in grants to DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC?
- LONGWOOD FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $275,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 Delaware Shakespeare Festival →
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 23 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