Minnesota · Nonprofit
GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE
GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,572,108 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($1,100,670). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $700k
What Great River Educational Arts Theatre does
Mission
Great River Educational Arts Theatre (great) brings the community together through shared theatre experiences. We ensure everyone in central minnesota will have access to the transformative power of the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Great River Educational Arts Theatre (great) enriches lives and builds lasting connections by challenging, educating, entertaining, and inspiring through various high-quality theatrical experiences. Our mission is to bring the community together through shared theatre experiences and ensure everyone in central minnesota has access to the transformative power of the arts. Each year we engage with over 62,000 community members through productions and performances as well outreach programming for youth. Through our productions, volunteers create social connections while audiences have the opportunity to gather with friends, family and co-workers to be entertained. Our education and outreach programming pathways are created for youth to engage in arts, build confidence, strengthen leadership and teamwork skills, and deepen relationships. Collectively, this work transforms how our entire community works and grows together as we nurture future leaders, connect as humans, and drive our local economy..
$1,766,792 spent$1,351,394 earned by the program100% of program spendingGreat's production and performance programming includes a season of seven to eight shows produced by professional artistic staff featuring all local volunteer actors. Four productions are performed at the 800-seat historic paramount center the arts in downtown st. Cloud and three are performed at our 150-seat helgeson learning lab theatre in waite park, mn. Each season is selected with input from our community of audiences, actors, and artists. Featuring both plays and musicals, our seasons are intentionally designed to share a variety of stories with something for all ages. Audiences experience the transformative power of theatre during performances as the stories being told entertain, challenge, educate, and inspire us. For artists, participants, and volunteers the transformation happens through the process of creating the art itself. The hands-on skills developed vary across all aspects that are part of creating theatre - from sewing costumes, to building sets, to assisting backstage, to skills such as projection, character development, singing, dancing, and teamwork that performing on stage fosters. In addition to growing as artists they also grow as individuals building…
Great 's outreach programming lives out our dedication to introduce youth to the power of theatre through one of the largest summer theatre camp programs in the state, an annual youth artist mentorship program, weekday student matinee performances, in-school musical-in-a-week residencies, and drama workshops partnerships with other organizations that meet youth where they are. Proven, tangible benefits of theatre experience include: cultivates collaboration and teamwork, enriches social emotional skills, increases sense of hope for the future, builds confidence, develops empathy, and foster self-discovery. These experiences, especially when there are multiple within a year, build life skills and foster personal growth that will a lasting impact for years to come.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,766,792.
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 $2.0M to $1.5M (−26%).
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 5% · 2018 6% · 2019 1% · 2020 4% · 2021 7% · 2022 20% · 2023 6% · 2024 8% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Lacey Schirmers
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $75k → $179k.
3 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE’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
GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 62% · 2019 48% · 2020 54% · 2021 76% · 2022 83% · 2023 56% — 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
57% of GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
70% of GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $464k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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.
Against its field
GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE: 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 GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE?
- GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,572,108 to it, the largest being COMMUNITYGIVING ($1,100,670). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $1,572,108 in grants to GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE?
- COMMUNITYGIVING is the largest funder on record, with $1,100,670 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT RIVER EDUCATIONAL ARTS THEATRE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Great River Educational Arts Theatre →
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 15 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing