Illinois · Nonprofit
LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION
LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,747,298 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($575,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What League of Chicago Theatres Foundation does
Mission
League of Chicago Theatres Foundation supports the work of league of chicago theatres through grantmaking and fundraising.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The foundation is organized for increasing public awareness of, interest in, and appreciation for the theatre arts in the city of chicago.
$4,143,799 spentof which $4,095,331 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,143,799.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $4.5M to $1.3M (−70%).
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: 2020 3% · 2022 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Heidi Thompson Saunders
chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $583k → $98k.
4 of 24 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 LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION’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
LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 63% · 2019 35% · 2020 28% · 2021 37% · 2022 31% · 2023 41% — 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
41% of LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
87% of LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $306k 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
LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- League of Chicago Theatres · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION: 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 LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION?
- LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,747,298 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($575,500). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $1,747,298 in grants to LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION?
- JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $575,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEAGUE OF CHICAGO THEATRES FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 24 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