Indiana · Nonprofit
FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC
FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC (Indiana) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,285 to it, the largest being Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc ($76,050). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $318k
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $309k
- Net assets
- $414k
What Fort Wayne Youtheatre Inc does
Mission
The mission of the fort wayne youtheatre is to educate, engage, and entertain area youth and families through theatre arts. Founded by mrs. Chan ray and mrs. Lester jacobs in 1934 as part of old fort players (now the civic theatre), the fort wayne youtheatre is the fifth oldest children's theatre in the nation and offers a complete theatre experience to children ages 3 to 18 through three key programs; productions, classes and camps, and outreach.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Youtheatre academy of performing arts: classes and camps provide hands-on training in all aspects of theatre, from acting and stage presence to technical production and creating original works. In 2024-2025, academy programs built the confidence of nearly 450 youth throughout the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Youtheatre partners with the embassy theatre each summer to present "let's put on a show," a performance-based camp opportunity at the historic embassy theatre. In june 2025, youtheatre announced a new program 'young @ heart,' presenting various workshops for theatre enthusiasts and families of all ages in collaboration with indiana musical theatre foundation. Mainstage productions: in 2024-2025, youtheatre mainstage productions engaged 114 youth on-stage, offered 30 youth opportunities off-stage as technicians, and facilitated school shows attended by 1,503 students. A grand total of 5,696 individuals were served through mainstage shows. Our young heroes of conscious production, something happened in our town, facilitated important conversations about race, policing, and social justice through a structured community dialogue in partnership with fort wayne urban league…
$225,084 spent$126,353 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $225,084.
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 $507k to $935k (+84%).
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 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 8% · 2021 8% · 2022 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE 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. 3 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 5 funders, grant income rose $29k → $33k.
5 of 23 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.
Left out of every figure on this page: $457k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC raised.
From the IRS filings of FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE 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
FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
40% 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 FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 100% · 2019 53% · 2020 49% · 2021 68% · 2022 42% · 2023 45% — growing more concentrated.
“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
33% of FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
59% of FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC's grant income comes from Indiana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k 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
FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC is better cushioned than half 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
Organizations like FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE 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 Indiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE 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 FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC?
- FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC (Indiana) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,285 to it, the largest being Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc ($76,050). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $309,285 in grants to FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC?
- Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $76,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FORT WAYNE YOUTHEATRE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 Fort Wayne Youtheatre →
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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing