Minnesota · Nonprofit
Illusion Theater and School Inc
Illusion Theater and School Inc (Minnesota) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,829,426 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($592,600). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $915k
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $113k
What Illusion Theater and School Inc does
Mission
Illusion Theater's mission is to create theater that illuminates the myths and realitites of our times and to catalyze personal and social change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Illusion presents its mainstage season at its new home, The Center for Performing Arts in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis. We produce 4 new plays a year, the Miss Richfield 1981's annual Holiday program in December, and the Fresh Ink Series in June. Illusion tours in the winter, performing for schools, universities, art series, corporations, faith organizations, and communities in its ongoing mission to develop new work that reflects and illuminates our times. Illusion has won numerous awards for creating specific work that addresses issues important to children and families. Illusion's education program is renowned throughout the state and country for its effective combination of theater and carefully crafted messaging on important issues.
$820,252 spent$211,546 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $820,252.
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 $1.0M to $680k (−33%).
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 23% · 2020 15% · 2021 30% · 2022 40% · 2023 23% · 2024 30% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of Illusion Theater and School Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Keith Halperin
Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 14 funders, grant income rose $12k → $432k.
5 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 Illusion Theater and School 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
Illusion Theater and School Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 56% · 2019 47% · 2020 48% · 2021 35% · 2022 26% · 2023 68% — 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
43% of Illusion Theater and School Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
52% of Illusion Theater and School Inc's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $200k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
Illusion Theater and School Inc's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Illusion Theater and School Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $101k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$101k
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 Illusion Theater and School 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 Illusion Theater and School 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 Illusion Theater and School Inc?
- Illusion Theater and School Inc (Minnesota) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,829,426 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($592,600). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Illusion Theater and School Inc have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $1,829,426 in grants to Illusion Theater and School Inc, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Illusion Theater and School Inc?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $592,600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Illusion Theater and School Inc 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 Illusion Theater and School →
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 28 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