California · Nonprofit
SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE
SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $537,247 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($150,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $537k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Sierra Madre Playhouse does
Mission
We enrich our communities through producing extraordinary live performances at accessible prices and preserve our historic theater for future generations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Nutcracker - in december 2024, Sierra Madre Playhouse presented the beloved bob baker's nutcracker, a marionette adaptation of the holiday classic created by the acclaimed bob baker marionette theater. This vibrant, all-ages production blended puppetry, music, and festive storytelling to delight multi-generational audiences. With multiple sold-out performances, the program offered families a whimsical and accessible entry point into the performing arts. The collaboration marked the second year of this annual tradition, helping to establish Sierra Madre Playhouse as a cultural hub for high-quality, family-friendly holiday programming.
$106,371 spent$123,024 earned by the program17% of program spendingPasaje - in fall 2024, Sierra Madre Playhouse produced pasaje, an original bilingual play developed over a decade by a collective of young latiné artists. The production explored themes of identity, migration, and belonging through live music, movement, and storytelling, blending professional artistry with community-rooted voices. Featuring a predominantly latiné cast and creative team, pasaje was a landmark for the playhouse's commitment to cultural equity and new work development. The production sold out its final weekend and drew enthusiastic support from both loyal patrons and first-time attendees.
$98,450 spent$37,793 earned by the program16% of program spendingL5y - in spring 2024, Sierra Madre Playhouse staged jason robert brown's acclaimed musical the last five years, directed by opera and theater innovator josh shaw. The production featured a bold, emotionally intimate staging that traced the rise and fall of a relationship through interwoven, nonlinear narratives. With live musical accompaniment and standout performances, the show attracted both musical theater enthusiasts and new audiences to the playhouse. This fresh take on a modern classic underscored the playhouse's commitment to artistically ambitious, emotionally resonant storytelling.
$32,297 spent$36,585 earned by the program5% of program spendingOther programs include all other general program expenses.
$373,775 spent$192,438 earned by the program61% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $610,893.
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 2023 to 2024, from $739k to $1.3M (+77%).
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 3% · 2018 3% · 2019 4% · 2020 26% · 2021 37% · 2022 37% · 2023 6% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Matthew Cook
Artistic and executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $6k → $47k.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $250 from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest Bechtolt Private Family Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE raised.
From the IRS filings of SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE’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
SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
37% 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 SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 92% · 2018 50% · 2019 66% · 2020 76% · 2021 54% · 2022 46% · 2023 43% — 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
50% of SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
97% of SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $187k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SIERRA MADRE 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
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 SIERRA MADRE 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 SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE?
- SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $537,247 to it, the largest being PERENCHIO FOUNDATION ($150,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $537,247 in grants to SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE?
- PERENCHIO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SIERRA MADRE 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 Sierra Madre Playhouse →
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 19 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