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California · Nonprofit

MAGIC THEATRE INC

MAGIC THEATRE INC (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,668,972 to it, the largest being FORT MASON CENTER ($1,251,641). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.5M
Funders on record
45
Grants received
$5.7M
Net assets
$71k
27/45 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Magic Theatre Inc does

Mission

Magic theatre is a place where emerging and established playwrights engage audiences in a unique experience; the chance to participate in the development of new work that is staged in an intimate, professional setting that speaks to contemporary issues with originality and with, a sense of urgency and adventure.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Production of theatrical performances.

    $1,135,283 spent$188,333 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,135,283.

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 ($1.3M) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($224k)2018 Revenue 139 ($1.8M) Expenses 110 ($1.8M) Net assets 136 ($304k)2019 Revenue 102 ($1.3M) Expenses 86 ($1.4M) Net assets 129 ($289k)2020 Revenue 106 ($1.4M) Expenses 83 ($1.3M) Net assets 163 ($367k)2021 Revenue 64 ($844k) Expenses 43 ($688k) Net assets 233 ($523k)2022 Revenue 110 ($1.4M) Expenses 75 ($1.2M) Net assets 345 ($774k)2023 Revenue 87 ($1.1M) Expenses 95 ($1.5M) Net assets 181 ($407k)2024 Revenue 114 ($1.5M) Expenses 106 ($1.7M) Net assets 106 ($238k)2025 Revenue 117 ($1.5M) Expenses 108 ($1.7M) Net assets 32 ($71k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (117)Expenses (108)Net assets (32)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 2023 to 2024, from $1.1M to $809k (−26%).

$577k
$585k
$511k
$690k
$830k
$983k
$1.1M
$809k
$592k
'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 9% · 2018 12% · 2019 7% · 2020 25% · 2021 16% · 2022 26% · 2023 30% · 2024 16% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

81% of MAGIC THEATRE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$268k
’17
$80k
’18
−$15k
’19
$78k
’20
$156k
’21
$251k
’22
−$367k
’23
−$169k
’24
−$167k
’25
0.2
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
Listed12111092021171312
Joined·+4+4+0+14+1+3+1+0
No longer listed·55130751
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $608k → $504k.

9 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 MAGIC THEATRE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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

MAGIC THEATRE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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

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 MAGIC THEATRE INC.

22%
largest funder
44%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 20% · 2019 34% · 2020 29% · 2021 26% · 2022 75% · 2023 15% — 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

55% of MAGIC THEATRE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

71% of MAGIC THEATRE INC's grant income comes from California funders.

NY
MA
OR
NV
CA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

MAGIC THEATRE INC's revenue grew 17% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−11% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)2% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding MAGIC THEATRE INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $150k on record.

Federal$150k
grants $150kcontracts $0
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$150k

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 MAGIC THEATRE 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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 20%Fundraising 13%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

93%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MAGIC THEATRE 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 MAGIC THEATRE INC?
MAGIC THEATRE INC (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,668,972 to it, the largest being FORT MASON CENTER ($1,251,641). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MAGIC THEATRE INC have?
IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $5,668,972 in grants to MAGIC THEATRE INC, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MAGIC THEATRE INC?
FORT MASON CENTER is the largest funder on record, with $1,251,641 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MAGIC THEATRE INC 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 Magic Theatre →

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 45 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