Illinois · Nonprofit
LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY
LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY (Illinois) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,688,621 to it, the largest being PAUL A & JOAN S RUBSCHLAGER FOUNDATION ($1,645,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.1M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $6.7M
- Net assets
- $6.4M
What Lookingglass Theatre Company does
Mission
Lookingglass Theatre Company is a national leader in the creation and presentation of innovative, cutting-edge theatrical work. Lookingglass interweaves movement, circus arts and narrative in original and captivating ways. Guided by an artistic (see sch o) vision centered on the core values of collaboration, transformation, and innovation, lookingglass seeks to redefine the theatrical experience and make theatre art that is exhilarating, inspirational, and accessible to all. Lookingglass shares its theatrical development techniques with chicago's diverse community through the extensive outreach of its education and community programming.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Founded in 1988 by a group of northwestern university graduate students, Lookingglass Theatre Company is a nationwide leader in the creation and presentation of new, cutting-edge theatrical works. Lookingglass has received the tony award for outstanding regional theatre, macarthur award for creative and effective institutions, artistic achievement award from the league of chicago theatres, and 58 joseph jefferson awards. Lookingglass has reached over 4 million audiences worldwide through its more than 100 productions staged and the pbs presentation of lookingglass alice.lookingglass is both nurtured by and actively shapes the local culture of collaboration, experimentation, and idealism. Driven by 32 ensemble members and 16 artistic associates, lookingglass productions are centered on ensemble with training in theatre, dance, music, and circus arts. Lookingglass' signature new work development laboratory, gglassworks, fuels the continued growth of its body of work, including 73 world premiere plays to date. At any given time, gglassworks has upwards of 20 plays in various stages of development.lookingglass' live experiences bring viewers into a shared awareness of their presence,…
$2,319,506 spent97% of program spendingLookingglass' department of education and engagement serves a broad and diverse community across the chicagoland region, bringing the transformative power of theater into classrooms, communities, and neighborhoods. In-house engagement programs deepen the experience of theatre, cultivating curiosity and building community. Teaching artists bring lookingglass' core values of collaboration, invention, and transformation into every setting. For many participants, lookingglass' programs offer the only available source of quality theatre arts education, which cultivates confidence, comprehension, and self-expression, growing the capacity for telling and understanding stories, and supporting communication and collaboration with peers and community members. The department of education and engagement offers five programs during a typical season: residencies in chicago public schools: lookingglass' flagship education program, residencies provide individualized theatre education programs both during and after school. A multi-session residency may focus on arts integration programming for core curriculum subjects or drama skills such as playwriting, acting, and ensemble-building. Every…
$68,958 spent3% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,388,464.
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 $4.0M to $7.4M (+83%).
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 0% · 2019 1% · 2021 42% · 2022 43% · 2023 1% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE 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. 4 of the last 8 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $321k → $2.0M.
12 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 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
LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
31% 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 LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 20% · 2018 30% · 2019 32% · 2020 26% · 2021 30% · 2022 15% · 2023 50% — 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
36% of LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY'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
73% of LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $185k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$185k
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 LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
39% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE 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 LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY?
- LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY (Illinois) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,688,621 to it, the largest being PAUL A & JOAN S RUBSCHLAGER FOUNDATION ($1,645,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $6,688,621 in grants to LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY?
- PAUL A & JOAN S RUBSCHLAGER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,645,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOOKINGGLASS THEATRE COMPANY 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.
Play a game about who funds Lookingglass Theatre Company →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 67 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