South Carolina · Nonprofit
FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC
FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $125,812 to it, the largest being GAYLORD AND DOROTHY DONNELLEY FOUNDATION ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $571k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $126k
- Net assets
- $7.1M
What Footlight Players Inc does
Mission
The footlight players was founded in 1931 and is the oldest continuously performing community theatre in south carolina. The mission of footlight players is to provide quality, affordable, barrier-free community theatre of aprofessional caliber for the citizens of charleston...
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Footlight players produces at least 6 diverse productions per season providing our community with the best in local entertainment and performers with an emphasis on diversity, reflecting the community at large, on stage.
$323,458 spent$260,910 earned by the program66% of program spendingFootlight players is dedicated to providing lowcountry youth with educational opportunities focused on enriching their lives and teaching them vital life skills through performing arts education.
$111,073 spent23% of program spendingFootlight players, in residence at the queen street playhouse, is pleased to provide a home for artists of all types to present their work and practice their craft. We are dedicated to offering a vast array of performing arts and offering our building to others as rehearsal and education space.
$55,535 spent11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $490,066.
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 2022 to 2023, from $547k to $8.2M (+1391%).
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: 2019 3% · 2020 5% · 2021 80% · 2022 43% · 2023 1% · 2024 10% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
39% of FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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.
Chief executive
Brian Porter
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $5k → $16k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS 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
FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 79% of grant income and the top three 98%; 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% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 77% · 2023 95% — 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
FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside South Carolina, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 3 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS 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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS 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 FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC?
- FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC (South Carolina) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $125,812 to it, the largest being GAYLORD AND DOROTHY DONNELLEY FOUNDATION ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $125,812 in grants to FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC?
- GAYLORD AND DOROTHY DONNELLEY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOOTLIGHT PLAYERS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 Footlight Players →
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 6 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