Skip to content

Massachusetts · Nonprofit

Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc

Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,553,953 to it, the largest being RICHARD K & NANCY L DONAHUE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($2,101,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.2M
Funders on record
41
Grants received
$4.6M
Net assets
$1.7M
30/41 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 47%
01What it does

What Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc does

Mission

To create remarkable new and contemporary plays that bring joy to our art form while engaging, entertaining and enriching our community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. During fiscal year 2025, the theatre offered a subscription series of 6 plays, added a second session of summer stage in cooperation with middlesex community college (mcc), and continued theatre for young audiences with mcc and umass lowell.

    $1,851,711 spent$818,042 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,851,711.

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 ($2.3M) Expenses 100 ($2.5M) Net assets 100 ($1.5M)2018 Revenue 117 ($2.7M) Expenses 105 ($2.6M) Net assets 108 ($1.6M)2019 Revenue 126 ($2.9M) Expenses 118 ($2.9M) Net assets 109 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 104 ($2.4M) Expenses 109 ($2.7M) Net assets 90 ($1.3M)2021 Revenue 61 ($1.4M) Expenses 63 ($1.6M) Net assets 81 ($1.2M)2022 Revenue 117 ($2.7M) Expenses 95 ($2.4M) Net assets 121 ($1.8M)2023 Revenue 83 ($1.9M) Expenses 97 ($2.4M) Net assets 89 ($1.3M)2024 Revenue 93 ($2.2M) Expenses 82 ($2.0M) Net assets 99 ($1.5M)2025 Revenue 94 ($2.2M) Expenses 99 ($2.5M) Net assets 114 ($1.7M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (94)Expenses (99)Net assets (114)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 2021 to 2022, from $2.0M to $2.5M (+23%).

$2.2M
$2.4M
$2.5M
$2.2M
$2.0M
$2.5M
$2.2M
$2.4M
$2.5M
'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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 30% · 2022 36% · 2023 12% · 2024 7% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

61% of Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 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.

−$149k
’17
$121k
’18
$13k
’19
−$288k
’20
−$159k
’21
$362k
’22
−$474k
’23
$146k
’24
−$269k
’25
1.0
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
Listed242730272423212426
Joined·+5+3+3+2+3+2+4+5
No longer listed·20654413
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $356k → $908k.

10 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $1.2M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Lowell Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc raised.

From the IRS filings of Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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

Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

25% 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 Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc.

46%
largest funder
69%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2018 68% · 2019 55% · 2020 42% · 2021 32% · 2022 47% · 2023 56% — 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

45% of Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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

89% of Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.

NH
NY
MA
CT
DE
NC
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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

Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 23 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−12% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.0mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $600k on record — $100k federal, $500k state.

Federal$100k
grants $100kcontracts $0
18
20
22
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$100k
State$500k
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top programs
  • (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$500k

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 Merrimack Repertory 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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 15%Fundraising 10%

Governance

24
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

84%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Merrimack Repertory 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc?
Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,553,953 to it, the largest being RICHARD K & NANCY L DONAHUE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($2,101,000). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc have?
IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $4,553,953 in grants to Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc?
RICHARD K & NANCY L DONAHUE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,101,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Merrimack Repertory Theatre Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Merrimack Repertory 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 41 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