California · Nonprofit
San Francisco Playhouse
San Francisco Playhouse (California) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,266,823 to it, the largest being BARBARA AND GERSON BAKAR FOUNDATION DBA THE ACHIEVE FOUNDATION ($755,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.7M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $5.3M
- Net assets
- $854k
What San Francisco Playhouse does
Mission
To share stories that uplift our spirits deepen self-awareness and nurture compassionate community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In fiscal year 2024 our strategic investment in celebrating our 20th season with large-scale impressive productions yielded positive results. Subscription sales continued to grow and we exceeded budget projections for both earned and contributed revenue. Operating expenses remained aligned with budget targets. The organization experienced a slight deficit due to the timing of an anticipated Employee Retention Credit ERC refund of $425,000 which was budgeted for FY24 but received in FY25. Despite implementing a mid-year ticket and subscription price increase sales momentum remained strong demonstrating audience loyalty and market demand. The organization continued its record of critical acclaim earning the most Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominations and awards. The season concluded with a highly successful production of Evita which drove subscription sales to an all-time high of approximately 3,200 subscribers. Early indicators for FY25 show earned revenue significantly exceeding budget projections positioning the organization for a strong financial year ahead.
$4,688,617 spent100% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,688,617.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.5M to $2.6M (+73%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 3% · 2021 43% · 2022 24% · 2023 2% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of San Francisco Playhouse’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. 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $335k → $664k.
15 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 San Francisco Playhouse’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 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
San Francisco Playhouse has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% 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
57% 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 San Francisco Playhouse.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 27% · 2019 27% · 2020 17% · 2021 20% · 2022 19% · 2023 15% — 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
59% of San Francisco Playhouse's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
55% of San Francisco Playhouse'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 $2.4M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
San Francisco Playhouse has grown faster than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like San Francisco 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 San Francisco 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 San Francisco Playhouse?
- San Francisco Playhouse (California) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,266,823 to it, the largest being BARBARA AND GERSON BAKAR FOUNDATION DBA THE ACHIEVE FOUNDATION ($755,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does San Francisco Playhouse have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $5,266,823 in grants to San Francisco Playhouse, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of San Francisco Playhouse?
- BARBARA AND GERSON BAKAR FOUNDATION DBA THE ACHIEVE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $755,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like San Francisco Playhouse find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 San Francisco 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 50 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