Wisconsin · Nonprofit
MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC
MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 127 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,548,864 to it, the largest being UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC ($13,520,313). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $27M
- Funders on record
- 127
- Grants received
- $43M
- Net assets
- $112M
What Milwaukee Repertory Theater Inc does
Mission
The organization ignites positive change in the cultural, social and economic vitality of its community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of milwaukee's rich diversity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
During the 2024/25 season we continued to provide world-class theater productions while continuing to bounce back from the loss of audiences as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. Alongside a full season of productions, we continued raising critical funds for a capital campaign to remodel and expand our complex with state-of-the-art theaters, abundant community gathering spaces, an education center to expand student programming, and modern audience amenities.
$12,244,063 spent$6,985,499 earned by the program94% of program spendingMilwaukee rep education & engagement programs aim to use theater as an agent of cultural and positive change in our communities and in our schools by eliminating barriers and dismantling assumptions about what our art form can do. Collectively we create positive change in our city through our unique position as a cultural organization that has the capacity to bring people together in a creative way. On stage. In our schools. Behind the scenes. In the lobby or across the table, we're individuals who care about making our region meet its full potential.
$795,191 spent$111,989 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $13,039,254.
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 2022 to 2023, from $58M to $84M (+45%).
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 27% · 2022 19% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
61% of MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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 broadened from 34 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $2.4M → $12M.
23 of 127 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 127 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
MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
53% 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 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 73% · 2019 68% · 2020 54% · 2021 52% · 2022 26% · 2023 24% — 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
59% of MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
85% of MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC's grant income comes from Wisconsin funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $385k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$385k
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 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER 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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER 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 MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC?
- MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 127 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,548,864 to it, the largest being UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC ($13,520,313). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC have?
- IRS filings report 127 organizations giving $42,548,864 in grants to MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC, 87 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC?
- UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $13,520,313 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Milwaukee Repertory Theater →
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 127 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