Tennessee · Nonprofit
NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC
NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,495,756 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($1,188,012). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What New Ballet Ensemble Inc does
Mission
The goals of new ballet ensemble, inc. Are to train community students regardless of family income to a professional or pre-professional level of dance in order to produce dancers from racially and socio-economically diverse backgrounds in the memphis area; to perform in public schools and for non-profit organizations that serve youth; to provide studio space at minimal cost to other non-profit organizations; and to provide classes outside of the core professional tract to children who can benefit from dance instruction but may not pursue careers in dance. Utilizing cross-cultural connections and excellence in dance training, new ballet propels community change and transforms lives through arts education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Dance education (ballet school) - new ballet ensemble & school (nbes) trains young dancers in a quality classical ballet curriculum with a solid and varied repertoire, speaking to diverse communities. Using conservatory training as a model, nbes instills knowledge of west african dance, modern dance, hip-hop, and flamenco with ballet so that the students have access to training present in bfa programs. The current enrollment in the school's studio program is 171 students. Approximately 40% of enrolled students attend on some form of scholarship. Nbe has awarded over $500,000 in scholarships over the past decade, ensuring equal access to a professional standard of training. In addition to formal dance training, nbe provides mentoring services, tutoring, and college prep services to enrolled students to aid their scholastic pursuits. Education and community engagement programs - the nbes pathways program serves ten public schools across shelby.
$874,848 spentof which $87,853 as grants$329,733 earned by the program54% of program spendingSchool performances - these engaging performances include a variety of curriculum-based storytelling with lesson plans attached to address arts, social studies, language, and creative writing objectives. Through these school performances, nbe impacts children living in historically marginalized communities through pre-performance curricula, live performances, and post-performance experiential workshops. In addition, nbe students and ensemble artists perform in partnership with community-based non-profit organizations and community centers and libraries, helping to foster a passion for the arts in a multicultural environment.mainstage performances - nbes annually presents several public mainstage performances. These performances collectively reach over 4,500 audience members with new stories to replace the old and new styles to bring dance to diverse audiences, spaces, and communities. Ny times dance critic alastair maculay's review of nbe's "nutremix" performance stated, "most of the performers are children, and this performance seemed to bind all into a world where ballet and hip-hop exist on equal terms with other dance forms." these performances reinforce the idea that all…
$648,036 spent$247,114 earned by the program40% of program spendingEducation and community engagement programs - the nbes pathways program serves ten public schools across shelby county with free dance training for all students after school and during the day as an elective. Nbe's teaching artists lead pathways under the direction of the director of arts education, preparing students for enrollment in nbe's core program when desired by the student and family and working to build emotional resilience and movement skills in all children, regardless of their desire to pursue professional dance. The number of students served in the pathways program is 281.
$97,206 spent$2,607 earned by the program6% of program spendingProfessional apprenticeship - new ballet established the paid trainee program in 2005 as an opportunity for student artists to further their training after high school on the professional level. The program was formalized in 2020 and became known as the teaching and performing artist apprenticeship program. Apprentices participate full-time or part-time. All professional development is funded on salary with accommodations and travel included, and the apprentice owns their certification in these programs as they grow into the subsequent phases of their careers. This includes training with the american ballet theater teacher training program, dance education laboratory, and the national dance institute. New ballet is dedicated to providing apprentices with the training they need to succeed as future performers and teaching artists, whether they remain in memphis or ascend to the world's great stages! Past participants include new ballet alumnus breana moore, ron k. Brown evidence, a dance company; maxx reed spiderman turn off the dark; and charles "lil buck" riley.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,620,090.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $2.1M to $2.8M (+33%).
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: 2020 16% · 2021 43% · 2022 10% · 2023 7% · 2024 10% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Matthew Best
Executive director
Board chair
Deborah Northcross
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $187k → $448k.
8 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% 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
63% 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 NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 33% · 2019 27% · 2020 28% · 2021 40% · 2022 35% · 2023 22% — 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
63% of NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
92% of NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC's grant income comes from Tennessee funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC's funding base is broadening — from 12 funders to 18 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $265k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$265k
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 NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE 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 Tennessee
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
74%
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 NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE 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 NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC?
- NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC (Tennessee) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,495,756 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC ($1,188,012). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $3,495,756 in grants to NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER MEMPHIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,188,012 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEW BALLET ENSEMBLE INC 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 New Ballet Ensemble →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 37 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing