Tennessee · Nonprofit
NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (Tennessee) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $810,461 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($326,041). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $650k
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $810k
- Net assets
- $148k
What Nashville Shakespeare Festival does
Mission
The mission of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival is to educate and entertain the mid-south community through professional theatrical experiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Professional theatrical productions for the public and for schools.we produced a five-week free outdoor production of shakespeare's "merry wives of windsor, and a two-week indoor production of "pride & prejudice," these programs served7,130 people.
$437,410 spent$77,348 earned by the program76% of program spendingEducational performances and workshops for schools.we produced educational performances of "macbeth," with accompanying in-classroom workshops, as well as residencies and other in-school enrichment programs, including online productions available free to schools. These programs served 2,683 people.
$72,811 spent$9,767 earned by the program13% of program spendingClasses and outreach for children and adults.we provided a variety of camps, classes, residencies, online materials, and coaching, teaching acting, theatre skills, and other enrichment to amateurs, professionals, and the general public. These programs served 6,636 people.
$68,912 spent$8,763 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $579,133.
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.
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 $147k to $578k (+293%).
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: 2018 10% · 2019 19% · 2020 21% · 2021 55% · 2022 28% · 2023 36% · 2024 20% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Isabel Tipton-Krispin
Executive director
Board chair
Char Dennis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $39k → $86k.
7 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL’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
NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
85% 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 NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 48% · 2019 55% · 2020 50% · 2021 55% · 2022 28% · 2023 29% — 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
31% of NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL'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
57% of NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $349k that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from funders outside Tennessee, across 8 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $462k 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.
Government funding NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $65k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$65k
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 NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
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 Tennessee
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: 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 NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL?
- NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (Tennessee) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $810,461 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($326,041). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $810,461 in grants to NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $326,041 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Nashville Shakespeare Festival →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 24 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