Arizona · Nonprofit
SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC
SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC (Arizona) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $806,053 to it, the largest being Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust ($276,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $466k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $806k
- Net assets
- $2k
What Southwest Shakespeare Company Inc does
Mission
Theatre company to educate and entertain through performances of works of classical theatre
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Students who will be attending our weekday student matinees will have pre- show orientation workshops in their classrooms taught by one of our teaching artists and often accompanied by one of the show's actors. Another type of workshop is the opportunity to discuss the play with the actors and director after seeing it at the mesa arts center ("mac") or "talkbacks". We also offer backstage tours after the performance.periodically, special customized workshops not relating to current shows are arranged on a one- by-one basis.
$84,085 spent26% of program spendingOn the second saturday of every main stage shakespeare production, dr.susan willis, dramaturg of the alabama shakespeare festival and professor at the university of alabama, teaches a daylong seminar on the play we are producing. These fun and interesting seminars are open to the public, free to season subscribers and usually full of educators who take what they learn back to their classrooms. Most of them earn 10 recertification hours from their respective school districts. This is yet another means by which we educate our patrons and make shakespeare more accessible.
$73,450 spent$50,786 earned by the program23% of program spendingThere are schools and communities that cannot, for a variety of reasons, come to the mesa arts center to see our full-length productions. For these interested parties, we have developed a touring show of no more than 90 minutes that is generally performed by a cadre of eight performers. In addition to the performance itself, these actors often provide a workshop prior or after the performance giving the students more information about shakespeare, his life and times. Every season southwest shakespeare company produces a professional season of at least five classical plays for season subscribers and the general public that includes three to four works of william shakespeare and/or one to two works selected from the classical repertoire. These productions are produced using the finest local and regional artists and designers, augmented by nationally-respected professionals from around the country. Only the highest of standards are aspired to in these productions, in sets, lights, costumes, and other production values. Our company was named by get out magazine as best theatre in phoenix for 2005-6, and has received numerous arizoni theatre awards for excellence, including five best…
$168,184 spent$142,683 earned by the program52% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $325,719.
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 2022 to 2023, from $210k to $90k (−57%).
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 16% · 2019 15% · 2020 15% · 2021 37% · 2022 45% · 2023 18% · 2024 17% · 2025 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC’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. 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $24k → $171k.
6 of 15 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.
From the IRS filings of SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC’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
SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% 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
41% 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 SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 36% · 2019 38% · 2020 38% · 2021 36% · 2022 58% · 2023 38% — 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
27% of SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
74% of SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $279k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
63% 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 SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC: 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 SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC?
- SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC (Arizona) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $806,053 to it, the largest being Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust ($276,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $806,053 in grants to SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC?
- Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust is the largest funder on record, with $276,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOUTHWEST SHAKESPEARE COMPANY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Southwest Shakespeare Company →
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 15 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