Illinois · Nonprofit
Free Street Theater
Free Street Theater (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,384,783 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($360,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $515k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $463k
What Free Street Theater does
Mission
Free Street Theater creates afforable, inclusive and innovative theater in communities across Chicago Seeking new and effective ways to challenge racial and economic segregation through the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Theater: The Organization works with people across Chicago to create an original ensemble performance that tells the complicated stories of the City. The Organization creates 6-8 shows per year that are performed in Pulaski Park, Back Of The Yards, public parks And community centers. These shows are made by resident ensembles or artists-in-residence through the in-house program.
$127,028 spent$6,065 earned by the program40% of program spendingCommunity Engagement: The Organization offers a wide range of workshops, classes and training for people of all ages to develop their skills as artists and change-makers. The Organization offers these workshops for free at community centers or in homes in Pulaski Park and Back Of The Yards. Located at 43rd and Ashland in Chicago, the Organization offers its Storyfront as a hub for performance, cultural events and community storytelling. The Organization also specializes in bringing people together to discuss difficult issues in fun, complicated and deeply human ways through Free Street Talk.
$97,275 spent$5,300 earned by the program31% of program spendingArts Education: The Organization trains youth ages 5-24 in writing, acting, ensemble and critical thinking skills. The Organization has two resident youth ensembles and operates a park program for kids ages 5-12 at Pulaski Park.
$89,911 spent29% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $314,214.
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.
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 $404k to $548k (+35%).
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 10% · 2020 27% · 2021 40% · 2022 22% · 2023 9% · 2024 2% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $53k → $364k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 Free Street 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
Free Street Theater leans on a few funders — its largest provides 26% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
41% 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 Free Street Theater.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 87% · 2020 37% · 2021 31% · 2022 29% · 2023 37% — 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 Free Street Theater's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
98% of Free Street Theater's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $368k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Government funding Free Street Theater receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 Free Street 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 Free Street 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.
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 Free Street Theater?
- Free Street Theater (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,384,783 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($360,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Free Street Theater have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $1,384,783 in grants to Free Street Theater, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Free Street Theater?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $360,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Free Street Theater find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Free Street 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 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