Illinois · Nonprofit
PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER
PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,010 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($45,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2023
- $15k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $55k
- Net assets
- $11k
What Playground Improv Theater does
Mission
Theater arts education, performance and professional training, youth and community outreach. The Playground Theater provides community-based educational experiences and performance opportunities for Chicago youth and students of all ages, experience levels, and lived experiences.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
A grant from the State of Illinois helped The Playground Theater afford rehearsal and performance space, maintain part-time staffing, pay independent artists, and continue outreach and education efforts in Chicago schools and after-school programs. Artists from the community produced over 200 live events and gave opportunities to hundreds more performers (comics, singers, dancers, group acts, etc.). Many performances dedicated proceeds to local charities or community reparations.
$14,140 spentof which $5,000 as grants60% of program spendingThe theater's education and outreach arm RECESS, hosted 6 classes with Afterschool Matters in 2023, serving over 40-60 Chicago teens. Instruction focuses on social/emotional learning objectives, theater-making (writing, improvising, crafting, movement, etc.), collaboration and freedom of expression.
$9,608 spentof which $5,000 as grants40% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $23,748.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $30k to $20k (−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.
70% of PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $15k → $10k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 82% 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 PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER’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
PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 82% 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
100% 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 PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
82% of PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER'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 $10k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $45k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER's revenue fell 86% between 2019 and 2023.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,279 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2023
Organizations like PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER: 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 PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER?
- PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,010 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($45,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $55,010 in grants to PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $45,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PLAYGROUND IMPROV THEATER 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.
Play a game about who funds Playground Improv Theater →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2019–2023), and the filings of 3 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