Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC
ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,000 to it, the largest being HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC ($50,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $53k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $87k
- Net assets
- $16k
What Esther Productions Inc does
Mission
Esther Productions, Inc is a successful nonprofit, 501 c (3) tax-exempt educational, social, and cultural corporation based in the District of Columbia. Since its inception in 2004, it has served thousands of individuals and partnered with dozens of organizations and businesses. Deploying the arts-visual, performing, and literary-as its chief vehicles, Esther Productions, Inc. has helped enhance the academic achievement of children and youth from, underserved or under-resourced communities; sought to empower girls and women, particularly those traumatized by parental loss or abandonment; and worked to strengthen families, providing them the personal and communal skills sufficient to navigate socio-economic challenges while celebrating their histories and cultures. The organization's board of directors and staff have made themselves available to other groups interested in addressing the issue of self-actualization, personal, family and community development.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
In 2023, Esther Productions Inc. presented a variety of programs for women and girls under Arts Wizardry and Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project. During the combination of these programs and participation of Esther Productions Inc. staff and board at community/partner events, the organization was able to serve as many as 500 people in person or online.
$0 spentThe Arts Wizardry included Kaleidoscope: A Writing Collective for Women of Color who are 18 and older; this is a monthly gathering that occurs online where participants receive instruction in creative writing including poetry and short fiction. They also receive feedback on new work presented to the group. The year long series Me, Myself and Our Story: A Creative Writing Institute was held for girls ages 14 -18 during which they received instruction around poetry writing, memoir and the personal essay. In 2023, Esther Productions opened a new division of its work around arts creation. It received funds to plan a historic symposium that focused on African American Children's Literature and DC Black writers. That event was subsequently held in March 2024 with a registration of more than 250 individuals from around the country.
$0 spentThe Me, Myself and Our Story creative writing series helped strengthen the submissions for Discovering Me...Personal Essay Scholarship Award, which is a division of the Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project; girls 14-18 are invited to tell their stories about growing up without their fathers and how they have or are meeting that challenge, including the impact on their personal resilience. In 2023, winners in that scholarship contest received cash awards totaling nearly $3,000 during a special youth summit that includes workshops around self-care and self-actualization. Also, as part of the Empowerment Project, Esther Productions sponsored its National Reconciliation Week, designed to help encourage family restoration.
$0 spent
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $27k to $24k (−13%).
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.
100% of ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Jonetta Barras
President-CEO
Board chair
Addison Switzer
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $5k → $35k.
From the IRS filings of ESTHER 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
ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2023 71% — 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.
Where its funders are
69% of ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,851 human services nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like ESTHER 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 ESTHER 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.
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 ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC?
- ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,000 to it, the largest being HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC ($50,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $87,000 in grants to ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC?
- HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Esther Productions →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), and the filings of 4 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