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Ohio · Nonprofit

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati (Ohio) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,487,190 to it, the largest being JOHN J & MARY R SCHIFF FOUNDATION ($22,000,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$10M
Funders on record
75
Grants received
$35M
Net assets
$55M
40/75 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 65%
01What it does

What The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati does

Mission

The mission of The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati (TCT) is to educate, entertain and engage audiences of all ages through professional theatrical productions and arts education programming. Our vision is to awaken a lifelong love of theatre in children and the young at heart. Today, The Children's Theatre brings art to life for our audiences through three key programs, TCT MainStage at the Taft Theatre, TCT Academy, and TCT On Tour (including WorkShops). Each season we strive to reach over 200,000 people in our region.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. TCT MainStage at the Taft Theatre includes daytime performances for school audiences and weekend performances for the public. Four production runs are held each year, with individual shows formatted into one-hour, family-friendly events. For each production, we present seven performances for public audiences and ten performances for school students, reaching almost 103,000 families, children and students annually.

    $2,720,761 spent$1,858,517 earned by the program
    78% of program spending
  2. TCT Academy offers arts training to children in a variety of disciplines including twelve-week class sessions; one-week themed summer camps for introductory arts makers; our audition-based, one-month STAR Intensive summer programs for children with demonstrated talent and interest in the performing arts; and Academy LIVE! training with a culminating performance opportunity. In addition to learning the arts, a primary objective for these programs is to provide students with the necessary tools to become successful adults.

    $649,676 spent$407,625 earned by the program
    19% of program spending
  3. TCT On Tour brings the magic of live theatre directly to those who would otherwise be unable to experience it. We tour five productions each season, serving children of all ages with titles taken from classic literature, fairy tales, history, and other works studied in school curricula. This program reaches an additional 60,000 students annually. TCT On Tour productions are educational and entertaining, as well as affordable, for schools and other venues across the board geographic spectrum of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and beyond.

    $129,454 spent$80,510 earned by the program
    4% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,499,891.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($4.0M) Expenses 100 ($4.1M) Net assets 100 ($12M)2019 Revenue 94 ($3.8M) Expenses 103 ($4.2M) Net assets 93 ($11M)2020 Revenue 91 ($3.7M) Expenses 90 ($3.6M) Net assets 91 ($11M)2021 Revenue 69 ($2.8M) Expenses 65 ($2.7M) Net assets 104 ($13M)2022 Revenue 221 ($8.9M) Expenses 103 ($4.2M) Net assets 134 ($16M)2023 Revenue 640 ($26M) Expenses 113 ($4.6M) Net assets 308 ($37M)2024 Revenue 403 ($16M) Expenses 110 ($4.5M) Net assets 409 ($50M)2025 Revenue 257 ($10M) Expenses 115 ($4.7M) Net assets 457 ($55M)
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (257)Expenses (115)Net assets (457)Peer revenue range

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 $17M to $38M (+124%).

$15M
$14M
$12M
$14M
$17M
$38M
$51M
$58M
'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 13% · 2022 19% · 2023 3% · 2024 1% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

68% of The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 810 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$21k
’18
−$386k
’19
$34k
’20
$116k
’21
$4.7M
’22
$21M
’23
$12M
’24
$5.7M
’25
15
months of
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

Kim Kern

Managing Director & CEO

Board chair

Allison Kropp

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed3740374233373339
Joined·+8+6+5+4+6+3+9
No longer listed·59013273
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $228k → $17M.

15 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

62%
largest funder
71%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 34% · 2019 41% · 2020 41% · 2021 46% · 2022 37% · 2023 80% — growing more concentrated.

“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

48% of The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

92% of The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati's grant income comes from Ohio funders.

MN
MI
NY
MA
OH
PA
CT
KY
AZ
NC
DC
GA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Ohio out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin55% · top quartile
Months of reserve15.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)14% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $135k on record.

Federal$135k
grants $135kcontracts $0
20
22
24
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$135k

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati

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 Ohio

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 14%Fundraising 11%

Governance

36
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

53%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

OH
KY

Part of a family of 4 related entities

  • TCT Emery SHTC LLC · partnership
  • TCT Emery Landlord LLC · partnership
  • TCT Emery HTC Tenant LLC · partnership
  • TCT Emery Manager LLC · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati: 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.

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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 The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati?
The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati (Ohio) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,487,190 to it, the largest being JOHN J & MARY R SCHIFF FOUNDATION ($22,000,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati have?
IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $35,487,190 in grants to The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati?
JOHN J & MARY R SCHIFF FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $22,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Children's Theatre of Cincinnati →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 75 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