Missouri · Nonprofit
PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE
PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE (Missouri) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,475 to it, the largest being TRUMAN HEARTLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($24,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $55k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $66k
- Net assets
- $25k
What Puppetry Arts Institute does
Mission
Puppetry Arts Institute is a 501(c)3 organization in its 24th year in the area of Englewood in Independence, Missouri. We provide workshops, puppet shows, exhibits and special events in our neighborhood in Jackson County.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Program
The Puppetry Arts Institute (PAI), established in 2001, offers entertaining puppet shows performed by professional puppeteers and puppet painting workshops for school age groups and families. "Grown up" shows and events are offered several times a year. The museum features unique puppet exhibits, a gift shop, a library, and a stage where children can perform. Exhibits include international puppets, Hazelle Rollins puppets, changeable exhibits in main room, and unique items in the gift shop. One room is devoted to Kansas City's own Hazelle Rollins legacy as the world's largest producer of puppets. PAI inherited the leftover factory puppet parts that are still being used for creative workshops and displays. The international room houses a collection of puppets from around the world that PAI's founder, Diane Houk, obtained while living in several countries. In August 2022, a concluding performance of the Missouri Bicentennial Show, was performed at the National Frontier Trails Museum. Fortunately, in 2024, PAI was able to perform puppet shows for family audiences at PAI as well. The Artistic Director and other regional puppeteers performed twice this year in unique shows at PAI's…
$48,541 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $48,541.
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 2017 to 2018, from $50k to $41k (−19%).
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.
83% of PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Kathleen Vest
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $7k → $14k.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE’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
PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
36% 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 PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 54% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 60% · 2022 60% · 2023 39% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $24k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE has grown faster than half of the 14,550 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,550 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE: 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 PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE?
- PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE (Missouri) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $66,475 to it, the largest being TRUMAN HEARTLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($24,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $66,475 in grants to PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE?
- TRUMAN HEARTLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $24,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUPPETRY ARTS INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Puppetry Arts Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 5 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