Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
LANTERN THEATER COMPANY
LANTERN THEATER COMPANY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,130,680 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,367,875). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Lantern Theater Company does
Mission
To produce plays that investigate and illuminate what is essential in the human spirit and the spirit of the times, to present related audience enrichment programs, and to educate our region's youth using theatrical techniques and great literature.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
During the 2024/25 season, we produced artistic and educational programming that drew 20,177 total participants. We produced 151 public performances of four mainstage plays, including the philadelphia premiere of the wanderers by anna ziegler; the philadelphia premiere of american moor by keith hamilton cobb; much ado about nothing by william shakespeare; and the 39 steps adapted by patrick barlow from the novel by john buchan. These performances were attended by 15,787 patrons. We also presented 15 audience enrichment events, which reached 637 audience members.
$1,283,502 spent$541,653 earned by the program86% of program spendingDuring the 2024/25 school year, our education program included in-school residencies and student matinee performances. We provided our classroom connections residency program to 1,114 middle and high school students. We hosted 1,911 students and teachers at 14 student matinee performances. Other education programming included cpe training for teachers with our bard basics workshops (18 served).
$101,703 spent7% of program spendingDuring the 2024/25 season, we presented free artistic programs in our community outreach series, spotlight northwest, in northwest philadelphia, serving a total of 710 participants. We hosted 12 artistic programs and 6 storycorps ice cream socials.
$100,000 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,485,205.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.1M to $2.7M (+146%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 4% · 2020 1% · 2021 3% · 2022 33% · 2023 4% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of LANTERN THEATER COMPANY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Dana J Ash
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $101k → $659k.
10 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 LANTERN THEATER COMPANY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 funders by total. 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
LANTERN THEATER COMPANY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% 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
26% 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 LANTERN THEATER COMPANY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 22% · 2019 31% · 2020 59% · 2021 39% · 2022 43% · 2023 39% — growing more concentrated.
“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
52% of LANTERN THEATER COMPANY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
79% of LANTERN THEATER COMPANY's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $740k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
LANTERN THEATER COMPANY is better cushioned 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
Government funding LANTERN THEATER COMPANY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- STUDENT BODY ACTIVITY$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 LANTERN THEATER COMPANY
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LANTERN THEATER COMPANY: 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 LANTERN THEATER COMPANY?
- LANTERN THEATER COMPANY (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,130,680 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION ($1,367,875). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LANTERN THEATER COMPANY have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $4,130,680 in grants to LANTERN THEATER COMPANY, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LANTERN THEATER COMPANY?
- THE WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,367,875 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LANTERN THEATER COMPANY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Lantern Theater Company →
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 53 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