Massachusetts · Nonprofit
HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC
HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $149,875 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($103,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $538k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $150k
- Net assets
- $336k
What Happier Valley Comedy Inc does
Mission
Happier valley comedy brings laughter, joy, and ease to western massachusetts (and the world) through the principles of improvisation. We serve up the happy through our training center, shows, and professional/personal development programs. We are committed to using the tenets of improvisation as a tool to amplify each person's authentic voice and creativity in an inclusive, welcoming community inspired and empowered by the diversity of all members.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
A complete training program running an average of 12 weekly classes and 3 monthly workshops in improvisational and comedy performance from beginner to advanced. There were an average of 150 students per session of diverse ages and backgrounds actively enrolled at any given time.
$169,690 spent$170,129 earned by the program61% of program spendingWeekly improvised comedy shows featuring a variety of performers and formats. We attract an average of 55 audience members per show.
$44,262 spent$45,795 earned by the program16% of program spendingThe improv to improve program brings the principles of improvisation to the workplace strengthening communication, collaboration, and creativity. We were hired for 27 events, with an average of 25 attendees per event, at different businesses and schools.
$62,685 spent$66,892 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $276,637.
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 2021 to 2022, from $179k to $370k (+106%).
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: 2021 48% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
46% of HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $8k → $20k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY 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
HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
87% 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 HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 99% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
80% of HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC'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 $30k that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k 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
HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $54k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$54k
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 HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY 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 Massachusetts
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
98%
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 HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY 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 HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC?
- HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $149,875 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ($103,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $149,875 in grants to HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS is the largest funder on record, with $103,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HAPPIER VALLEY COMEDY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Happier Valley Comedy →
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