New York · Nonprofit
FIASCO THEATER LTD
FIASCO THEATER LTD (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,359 to it, the largest being THE HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION INC ($431,250). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $766k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $656k
What Fiasco Theater Ltd does
Mission
Founded in 2009, fiasco theater is an ensemble theater company based in nyc. Our mission is to offer dynamic, joyful, actor-driven productions, and the highest quality, accessible, affordable training for emerging artists. We create text-based theatrical experiences that delight audiences of seasoned theatergoers and newcomers alike. To date over 200,000 audience members in nyc have seen our productions, including 12,000+ school children, and the ny times has called fiasco "a force to reckon with in the american theater". After the runaway success of our first show (cymbeline, 2009), we were fortunate to partner with larger institutions to present our work for 10 years. In 2019, we launched a new strategic plan to grow our capacity to produce more of our own programming. Our long-term goal to elevate and transform the standard for how theater gets made by disrupting a culture of extraction, and offerring a more humane and joyful alternative to artists, students and audiences.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Program
Not described on the e-filed return.
$246,551 spent$74,468 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $246,551.
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 2024 to 2025, from $347k to $694k (+100%).
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 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 11% · 2021 37% · 2022 4% · 2023 11% · 2024 19% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of FIASCO THEATER LTD’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. 4 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
Robert L Macdonald
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $36k → $357k.
4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 FIASCO THEATER LTD’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
FIASCO THEATER LTD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 70% · 2019 86% · 2020 58% · 2021 46% · 2022 32% · 2023 45% — 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
75% of FIASCO THEATER LTD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
97% of FIASCO THEATER LTD's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $175k 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.
Against its field
FIASCO THEATER LTD runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding FIASCO THEATER LTD receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$50k
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 FIASCO THEATER LTD
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
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 FIASCO THEATER LTD: 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 FIASCO THEATER LTD?
- FIASCO THEATER LTD (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,070,359 to it, the largest being THE HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION INC ($431,250). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIASCO THEATER LTD have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $1,070,359 in grants to FIASCO THEATER LTD, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIASCO THEATER LTD?
- THE HOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $431,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIASCO THEATER LTD find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Fiasco Theater Ltd →
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 16 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