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Michigan · Nonprofit

MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC

MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC (Michigan) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,962,126 to it, the largest being HARRY A AND MARGARET D TOWSLEY FOUNDATION ($885,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$5.1M
Revenue FY2025
52
Funders on record
$5.0M
Grants received
$11M
Net assets
28/52 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 27%

Against its field

MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC is better cushioned than half of the 2,883 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−31% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,883 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The 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 ($5.6M) Expenses 100 ($4.9M) Net assets 100 ($13M)2018 Revenue 108 ($6.1M) Expenses 132 ($6.4M) Net assets 98 ($13M)2019 Revenue 133 ($7.5M) Expenses 138 ($6.7M) Net assets 104 ($14M)2020 Revenue 89 ($5.0M) Expenses 115 ($5.6M) Net assets 100 ($13M)2021 Revenue 45 ($2.5M) Expenses 68 ($3.3M) Net assets 94 ($13M)2022 Revenue 99 ($5.6M) Expenses 112 ($5.4M) Net assets 110 ($15M)2023 Revenue 82 ($4.6M) Expenses 119 ($5.8M) Net assets 102 ($13M)2024 Revenue 99 ($5.6M) Expenses 140 ($6.8M) Net assets 92 ($12M)2025 Revenue 91 ($5.1M) Expenses 138 ($6.7M) Net assets 80 ($11M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (91)Expenses (138)Net assets (80)Peer revenue range

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 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 21% · 2022 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

32% of MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,374 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$796k
17
$261k
18
$791k
19
$553k
20
$789k
21
$152k
22
$1.2M
23
$1.2M
24
$1.6M
25
4.0
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 17 funders, grant income fell $592k → $428k.

18 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)44% 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 MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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

MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% 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

57% 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 MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC.

18%
largest funder
44%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 27% · 2019 33% · 2020 26% · 2021 36% · 2022 23% · 2023 21%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

36% of MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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

84% of MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Michigan funders.

WI
MI
NY
MA
CA
CO
FL

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

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Michigan out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 52 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Organizations like MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Michigan

Nationally

04Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

63% of spending goes to programs.

Program 63%Management 26%Fundraising 11%

Governance

18
board members
94%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited financials

Public support

97%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MI

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC?
MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC (Michigan) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,962,126 to it, the largest being HARRY A AND MARGARET D TOWSLEY FOUNDATION ($885,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $4,962,126 in grants to MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC?
HARRY A AND MARGARET D TOWSLEY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $885,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MICHIGAN THEATER FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

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 52funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing