Illinois · Nonprofit
Midnight Circus In The Parks
Midnight Circus In The Parks (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $323,501 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($243,050). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
Midnight Circus In The Parks's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,354 unclassified nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
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.
- League of Chicago Theatres Foundationlocalportfolio match
- Finnegan Family Foundationshared funders
- The Richard H Driehaus Foundationportfolio match
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.
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: 2021 43% · 2022 13% · 2023 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
30% of Midnight Circus In The Parks’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (73% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $20k → $96k.
1 of 5 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 Midnight Circus In The Parks’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
Midnight Circus In The Parks leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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 100% · 2018 56% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 100% · 2023 69% — 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.
Where its funders are
Midnight Circus In The Parks draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 stateis 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.
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.
- League of Chicago Theatres Foundationlocalportfolio matchIL · funds 82 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Finnegan Family Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 24 organizations that share your funders
- The Richard H Driehaus Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Prince Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Illinois Humanities Council Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Jerome Mirza Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Mardi Gras Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Field Foundation of Illinoisportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Nib Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Springboard Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Siragusa Family Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 34 organizations that share your funders
- 3arts Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
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.
Government funding Midnight Circus In The Parks receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $225k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$225k
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 Midnight Circus In The Parks
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Midnight Circus In The Parks: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Midnight Circus In The Parks?
- Midnight Circus In The Parks (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $323,501 to it, the largest being Fulk Family Foundation Inc ($243,050). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Midnight Circus In The Parks have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $323,501 in grants to Midnight Circus In The Parks, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Midnight Circus In The Parks?
- Fulk Family Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $243,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Midnight Circus In The Parks find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 5funders 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