Oregon · Nonprofit
THE CIRCUS PROJECT
THE CIRCUS PROJECT (Oregon) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $909,918 to it, the largest being Regional Arts & Culture Council ($261,408). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2022
- $523k
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $910k
- Net assets
- $0
What The Circus Project does
Mission
The Circus Project offers circus arts education and performances that invite people with a variety of life experiences to grow as artists, individuals, and community members.
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2022 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Organization ceased operations in 2022.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Circus educationour education programs support circus artists from many walks of life. We provide a space and curriculum where every student can show up as their authentic self and learn to how to train with the discipline, safety, and creative presence of a professional circus artist. We do this through tuition-based classes and intensive training programs open to youth and adults from the general public, and through our pathways program, which increases access to the arts for students who wouldn't otherwise have these learning opportunities. Our programs are made accessible with a robust scholarship fund and an on-staff social worker to work with students and families... (continued on schedule o) to remove financial, logistical, and cultural barriers to participation. In order to offer safe training and performance space amidst the ongoing pandemic, we built a unique satellite outdoor venue, the domes.
$674,163 spentof which $249,614 as grants$202,218 earned by the program94% of program spendingPathways: creating access to circus artsin 2022, we provided over $100,000 worth of free or reduced circus training for folks with financial barriers. We also continued the voice project, a year-long circus performance program for youth with marginalized identities.
$41,458 spent$6,713 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $715,621.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $478k to $0 (−100%).
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 15% · 2019 9% · 2020 44% · 2021 40% · 2022 39%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Nel Taylor
Board president (1/1-8/2/22)
As listed on its FY2022 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2022: the base broadened from 7 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $82k → $133k.
3 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 CIRCUS PROJECT’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
THE CIRCUS PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
58% 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 THE CIRCUS PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 31% · 2018 22% · 2019 43% · 2020 50% · 2021 38% · 2022 35% — 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
43% of THE CIRCUS PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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 FY2022, 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 CIRCUS PROJECT's grant income comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $256k 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.
Government funding THE CIRCUS PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $100k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$100k
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 CIRCUS PROJECT
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 THE CIRCUS PROJECT: 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 THE CIRCUS PROJECT?
- THE CIRCUS PROJECT (Oregon) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $909,918 to it, the largest being Regional Arts & Culture Council ($261,408). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CIRCUS PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $909,918 in grants to THE CIRCUS PROJECT, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CIRCUS PROJECT?
- Regional Arts & Culture Council is the largest funder on record, with $261,408 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CIRCUS PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 21 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