New York · Nonprofit
MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC
MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC (New York) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,635,177 to it, the largest being FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC ($1,059,677). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $332k
What Merry-Go-Round Playhouse Inc does
Mission
To educate, entertain and encourage the enjoyment of the performing arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
To provide for the promotion of the arts, theater and music, and to effectuate training, education and performance in the arts.
$5,022,105 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,022,105.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3.2M to $5.8M (+79%).
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 1% · 2019 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 44% · 2022 6% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
17% of MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 8 of the last 9 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 narrowed from 5 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $711k → $70k.
4 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC’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
MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 77% · 2019 89% · 2020 61% · 2021 68% · 2022 96% · 2023 71% — 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
19% of MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
94% of MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $242k 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
MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC's revenue grew 18% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE 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.
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 MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC?
- MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC (New York) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,635,177 to it, the largest being FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC ($1,059,677). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,635,177 in grants to MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC?
- FRED L EMERSON FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,059,677 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Merry-Go-Round Playhouse →
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 19 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