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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC

IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,280 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($30,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$426k
Funders on record
3
Grants received
$54k
Net assets
$-79084
2/3 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 1%
01What it does

What Imagination Stage of Washington DC Inc does

Mission

Imagination stage of washington, dc, inc. Empowers all young people to discover their voice and identity through performing arts education and professional theatre.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Imagination stage, washington dc's leading children's theatre organization, is dedicated to serving all children through innovative and artistically rigorous programming. The organization provides professional theatre productions free of charge across all 8 wards to 3,930 district of columbia public schools (dcps) and dc public charter school students, eliminating financial barriers to access.in addition to performances, imagination stage delivers in-school and outside-of-school-time arts education workshops and extended residencies that integrate theatre into classroom learning, as well as professional development for teachers to support arts-based instruction. Programs include theatre for change, which uses theatre and facilitated discussion to engage students in exploring social issues and strengthening communication, collaboration, and critical-thinking skills. Independent research has identified increases in english language skills and classroom attendance as positive impacts of the company's programming. Through these programs, imagination stage supports the social, emotional, and creative development of dc public school students, helping to cultivate compassionate,…

    $697,127 spent$238,475 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $697,127.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($221k) Expenses 100 ($201k) Net assets -508 ($-208749)2018 Revenue 163 ($361k) Expenses 133 ($268k) Net assets -282 ($-115781)2019 Revenue 198 ($438k) Expenses 162 ($327k) Net assets -11 ($-4440)2020 Revenue 236 ($523k) Expenses 237 ($477k) Net assets 100 ($41k)2021 Revenue 158 ($349k) Expenses 143 ($288k) Net assets 248 ($102k)2022 Revenue 263 ($581k) Expenses 275 ($553k) Net assets 314 ($129k)2023 Revenue 243 ($537k) Expenses 251 ($506k) Net assets 390 ($160k)2024 Revenue 261 ($576k) Expenses 195 ($392k) Net assets 838 ($344k)2025 Revenue 193 ($426k) Expenses 422 ($849k) Net assets -193 ($-79084)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (193)Expenses (422)Net assets (-193)Peer revenue range

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 $346k to $49k (−86%).

$57k
$57k
$58k
$51k
$128k
$198k
$160k
$346k
$49k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 33% · 2018 25% · 2019 24% · 2020 11% · 2021 20% · 2022 28% · 2023 28% · 2024 24% · 2025 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

44% of IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$20k
’17
$93k
’18
$111k
’19
$46k
’20
$61k
’21
$27k
’22
$31k
’23
$184k
’24
−$423k
’25
0.3
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed3811141314111315
Joined·+6+4+5+2+2+2+4+6
No longer listed·11231524
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC 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

IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

55% 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 IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC.

55%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

“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

55% of IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC 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 $24k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 2 states.

MD
FL

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC has grown faster than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−99% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.3mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC 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 Washington, D.C.

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 9%Fundraising 9%

Governance

15
board members
87%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

57%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Imagination Stage Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC 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.

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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 IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC?
IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,280 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($30,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC have?
IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $54,280 in grants to IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC?
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $30,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like IMAGINATION STAGE OF WASHINGTON DC INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

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 3 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