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Minnesota · Nonprofit

Ely's Historic State Theater

Ely's Historic State Theater (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $376,859 to it, the largest being Donald G Gardner Humanities Trust ($128,110). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$504k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$377k
Net assets
$323k
8/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 42%
01What it does

What Ely's Historic State Theater does

Mission

To ignite imagination, foster connection, and celebrate the art of storytelling

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The theater presents first run films, documentaries, and classic movies year round. The theater sold tickets to both local residents and regional visitors. The programming supports cultural access, tourism, and economic activity to Elys downtown.

    $333,071 spent$371,110 earned by the program
    84% of program spending
  2. The annual Ely Film Festival celebrates local storytelling and regional voices by bringing together residents and visitors to experience Minnesota- made, indigenous, and independent films.

    $42,053 spent$67,609 earned by the program
    11% of program spending
  3. The theater hosts live music events and performances including a summer concert series and collaborations that all help strengthen the performing arts scene in rural Minnesota.

    $21,134 spent$65,598 earned by the program
    5% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $396,258.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($249k) Expenses 100 ($9k) Net assets 100 ($240k)2020 Revenue 101 ($252k) Expenses 2397 ($212k) Net assets 117 ($280k)2021 Revenue 145 ($361k) Expenses 3352 ($297k) Net assets 143 ($344k)2022 Revenue 176 ($439k) Expenses 4717 ($417k) Net assets 152 ($366k)2023 Revenue 167 ($417k) Expenses 5400 ($478k) Net assets 127 ($305k)2024 Revenue 230 ($574k) Expenses 6187 ($547k) Net assets 138 ($331k)2025 Revenue 202 ($504k) Expenses 5231 ($463k) Net assets 134 ($323k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (202)Expenses (5231)Net assets (134)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 2020 to 2021, from $283k to $416k (+47%).

$240k
$283k
$416k
$396k
$314k
$346k
$405k
2019202020212022202320242025
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2019 6% · 2020 2% · 2021 6% · 2022 6% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

36% of Ely's Historic State Theater’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$240k
’19
$40k
’20
$64k
’21
$22k
’22
−$61k
’23
$27k
’24
$41k
’25
5.0
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.

Board chair

Meg Heiman

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2019202020212022202320242025
Listed999101097
Joined·+0+1+3+0+5+3
No longer listed·012065
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $106k → $97k.

4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 Ely's Historic State 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

Ely's Historic State Theater has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% 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

75% 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 Ely's Historic State Theater.

34%
largest funder
57%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 95% · 2020 30% · 2021 51% · 2022 93% · 2023 51% — 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

25% of Ely's Historic State Theater's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

78% of Ely's Historic State Theater's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.

MN
WI
FL

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

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Minnesota out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $82k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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

Ely's Historic State Theater runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin8% · above the median
Months of reserve5.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)12% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Ely's Historic State 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 Minnesota

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 12%Fundraising 3%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ely's Historic State 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.

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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 Ely's Historic State Theater?
Ely's Historic State Theater (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $376,859 to it, the largest being Donald G Gardner Humanities Trust ($128,110). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Ely's Historic State Theater have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $376,859 in grants to Ely's Historic State Theater, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Ely's Historic State Theater?
Donald G Gardner Humanities Trust is the largest funder on record, with $128,110 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Ely's Historic State Theater find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Ely's Historic State Theater →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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