New Jersey · Nonprofit
Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse (New Jersey) receives grants from 127 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,717,785 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,728,776). 83 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $31M
- Funders on record
- 127
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $38M
What Paper Mill Playhouse does
Mission
Mission Paper Mill Playhouse entertains, inspires, and enriches lives. As the nation's premier musical theater, we foster a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. Vision the vision of Paper Mill Playhouse is to be internationally recognized as the leading musical theater where new and reimagined musicals and innovative education programs are cultivated. Paper Mill Playhouse is the place where artists, theater lovers, and students come together to realize their creativity and to be inspired by the theater's unmatched passion and commitment to excellence.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Paper Mill Playhouse has been a cherished New Jersey arts institution for 86 years, with a national reputation that continues to grow. As a producing theater, Paper Mill's collaboration with other regional theaters and leading independent producers brings audiences the best in musical theater, from celebrated revivals to groundbreaking new works. Education and outreach programs nurture young people's creativity and empathy. Paper Mill brings decades of leadership in cultural access and is at the forefront of autism-friendly theater. Paper Mill Playhouse received the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award in recognition of its contribution to the national field. During the FY25 season, Paper Mill produced new productions of "Jersey Boys", "White ChristmasDisney's "The Little Mermaid" which all played to near capacity audiences. The season also included the popular new musical "Mystic Pizza", and the world premiere of "Take the Lead". Several new marketing and program initiatives introduced new, younger and more diverse audiences to Paper Mill throughout the season. During this season, the Paper Mill production of The Great Gatsby continued to run on Broadway and opened in London's West…
$21,137,951 spent$19,630,776 earned by the program92% of program spendingPaper Mill's Education, Outreach and Access programs engage young people in the joy of live theater through the Adopt-A-School Project, Paper Mill Theater School, Rising Star Awards, Summer Musical Theater Conservatory and its New Voices concerts, and Theater for Young Audiences. Paper Mill has decades of leadership in breaking barriers to the arts, including accessibility for individuals with disabilities and cultural partnerships with New Jersey's schools and community-based organizations. As the first theater in the country to present a comprehensive autism-friendly performance, Paper Mill has expanded its offerings of welcoming and inclusive shows, theater classes and outreach for children with autism and developmental disabilities, their families and friends.
$1,810,322 spentof which $9,500 as grants$881,601 earned by the program8% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,948,273.
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 2021 to 2022, from $20M to $40M (+100%).
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 5% · 2018 4% · 2019 3% · 2020 5% · 2021 25% · 2022 31% · 2023 5% · 2024 6% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
29% of Paper Mill Playhouse’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Michael Stotts
Executive director
Board chair
Carolyn Ferolito
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $313k → $1.7M.
16 of 127 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 Paper Mill Playhouse’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
Paper Mill Playhouse has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% 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
46% 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 Paper Mill Playhouse.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 43% · 2019 25% · 2020 30% · 2021 28% · 2022 57% · 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
55% of Paper Mill Playhouse's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
73% of Paper Mill Playhouse's grant income comes from New Jersey funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
Paper Mill Playhouse holds deeper cash reserves 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 Paper Mill Playhouse receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $33.2M on record — $353k federal, $32.8M state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$353k
- GRANT IN AID$27.4M
- FEDERAL$5.2M
- TRUST FUND$118k
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$5k
- DEDICATED$1k
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 Paper Mill Playhouse
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 New Jersey
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Paper Mill Playhouse: 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 Paper Mill Playhouse?
- Paper Mill Playhouse (New Jersey) receives grants from 127 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,717,785 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,728,776). 83 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Paper Mill Playhouse have?
- IRS filings report 127 organizations giving $10,717,785 in grants to Paper Mill Playhouse, 83 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Paper Mill Playhouse?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,728,776 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Paper Mill Playhouse find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 Paper Mill Playhouse →
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