California · Nonprofit
LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE
LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $369,815 to it, the largest being L & N ANDREAS FOUNDATION ($165,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $86k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $370k
- Net assets
- $-57830
What Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble does
Mission
Theatre utilizing artists of Color.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
The House that Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley was showcased through a staged reading in collaboration with A Noise Within as part of their Noise Now initiative. This event took place on March 22 and 23 2025 featuring a talented 15-member team including Bernadette Speakes Yvonne Huff Lee Veralyn Jones Mark Doerr June Carryl Joy De Michelle Cherish Monique Duke Nadege August Tori Danner Elliyah M. Banks Gregg T. Daniel Lindsay LJ Jenkins Rachel Maye Aronoff Drina Durazo and for A Noise Within Alison Rodriguez. The play delves into themes of identity legacy and the intricate dynamics within families. Set in New Orleans it follows a family of women as they navigate love power and the tension between personal desires and societal expectations. The house in the story serves as a powerful metaphor for the emotional and historical burdens carried by the characters adding depth and symbolism to the narrative. Audience members totalled 51.
$17,878 spent17% of program spendingThe Chester Higgensworth Detective Series Podcast : August 2024 - May 2025 A 20 member team included: Drina Durazo L. Stephanie Tait Berna,dette Speakes Peppur Chambers Gregg T. Daniel Yvonne Huff Lee Veralyn Jones Jason Delane Patricia Belcher Janellen Steinenger Cristina Frias DeLanna Studi Ahkei Togun Cherish Monique Duke Sydney Mason Sean Walton ,Sabina Varela Bernard Addison Lindsay LJ Jenkins Jamil Jones. Summary: A comedy-drama podcast series with a cause The Chester Higgensworth Detective Series follows an unorthodox modern-day vigilante and self-styled property bounty hunter on a mission to reclaim stolen landand stolen legaciesone plot at a time. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Black resistance and historical injustice the series brings together the germaphobic Chester the no-nonsense strategist Patricia Livingston savvy tech-whiz Emmy Silver and her resourceful currently incarcerated brother Pooky as they confront shady developers slippery
$87,285 spent83% of program spendingcon artists and the lingering ghosts of generational theft. Whether unraveling a land-grab poker scheme chasing down kidnappers or exposing grave robbers this unlikely crew is determined to set things right-with heart humor and just a hint of chaos. Written by Peppur Chambers and commissioned by Lower Depth Theatre each one-act audio episode blends satire suspense and social commentary in a genre-bending experience. With a colorful rotating cast of characters and a mysterious voice pulling strings behind the scenes Chesters crusade is as unpredictable as it is necessary. Come for the laughs. Stay for the land back. The eposides were broadcast online.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $105,163.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $63k to $27k (−56%).
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.
37% of LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $23k → $94k.
2 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE’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
LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
54% 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 LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 53% · 2019 50% · 2020 65% · 2021 98% · 2022 75% · 2023 48% — 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
13% of LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $125k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$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 LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE: 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 LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE?
- LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $369,815 to it, the largest being L & N ANDREAS FOUNDATION ($165,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $369,815 in grants to LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE?
- L & N ANDREAS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $165,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOWER DEPTH THEATRE ENSEMBLE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 10 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