Illinois · Nonprofit
SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY
SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $825,715 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($363,237). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $583k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $826k
- Net assets
- $336k
What Serendipity Theatre Company D/B/A 2nd Story does
Mission
A storytelling organization that hosts story-sharing experiences around and beyond chicago. These experiences which come in the form of performances, classes and workshops, and corporate programs, are rooted in story and seek to fulfill a vision of a world driven by empathy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Storybuilds: storybuilds is 2nd story's story-centered approach to workplace team building, skill building, and empathy building training for businesses of all sizes and types. Additionally, our in-school branch of storybuilds serves k-12 as well as college and university students, teachers, faculty, and parents. Each engagement is built on the belief that sharing and deeply listening to personal stories can create long-lasting connections and stronger communities. People impacted: 1,000 approximately. This program was previously named culturebuilds.
$148,110 spent$95,000 earned by the program42% of program spendingPerformance programming: annually, 2nd story works with 100+ artists to produce more than 20 events (both public and private) centered on true, first-person stories. People impacted: 1,500 approximately, including virtual attendees.
$144,971 spent$10,336 earned by the program41% of program spendingCommunity programming: 2nd story offers classes and workshops where students of all ages and experience levels can learn our method of writing, critiquing and performing their own stories. People impacted: 300 approximately.
$43,507 spent$21,650 earned by the program12% of program spendingGeneral programming expenses include consultants, insurance fees, and occupancy fees that are not related to a specific programming area.
$20,290 spent6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $356,878.
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 2022 to 2023, from $312k to $474k (+52%).
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 2% · 2021 3% · 2022 12% · 2023 6% · 2024 3% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $22k → $189k.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY’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
SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 62% · 2020 70% · 2021 55% · 2022 50% · 2023 44% — 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
60% of SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
66% of SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY'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 $278k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $548k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY has grown faster than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY
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.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY: 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 SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY?
- SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $825,715 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($363,237). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $825,715 in grants to SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $363,237 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SERENDIPITY THEATRE COMPANY D/B/A 2ND STORY 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 Serendipity Theatre Company D/B/A 2nd Story →
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 11 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