New York · Nonprofit
THE FLEA THEATER INC
THE FLEA THEATER INC (New York) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,863,628 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,350,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $921k
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $5.9M
- Net assets
- $18M
What The Flea Theater Inc does
Mission
We work to create a culture where black, brown and queer artists and their audiences can commune, create art on their own terms and live in their full expression and cultural truths. We will support work that is not strictly defined by traditional designations like "off-off-broadway or "theater". While we are a nyc based company, we encourage artists to be unbound by geography or physical buildings. We also create opportunities for audiences to deepen their knowledge, practice and interest in experimental art by black, brown and queer artists.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The flea's 2024 world premiere was bathhouse.pptx, written by jess I. Valles and directed by chay yew. Moving between (a)historical lecture, re-enactment, and cruising ground, bathhouse.pptx is an ode to the places that hold queer awakening, desire, and longing; the ghosts who inhabit them; and their threat of extinction. Bathhouse.pptx received its world premiere from march 22 - april 21, 2024. Due to this production's overwhelming success, the flea extended the run for 12 performances through may 6. Valles was a 2024 tow playwright in residence at the flea. Bathhouse.pptx was called "a fever dream, both poetic and mystifying" by the new york times, and gay city news exclaimed, "bathhouse.pptx ignites off-off broadway with artistry and heart... Stunningly original." bathhouse.pptx was published in 2024 by yale university press.the flea completed our pilot resident company program, which offers three-year residencies to a cohort of companies from our community that require support in their artistic and operational capacities. The a new cohort of two companies was selected for 2025 and includes vibe theater experience, a brooklyn-based performing arts nonprofit that provides free…
$1,797,931 spent$400,258 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,797,931.
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 2017 to 2018, from $25M to $23M (−7%).
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 58% · 2018 17% · 2019 19% · 2020 23% · 2021 30% · 2022 12% · 2023 5% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of THE FLEA THEATER INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Lauren Britt-Elmore
Co-president/executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 16 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $1.4M.
9 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 FLEA THEATER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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 FLEA THEATER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
42% 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 FLEA THEATER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 35% · 2019 63% · 2020 50% · 2021 39% · 2022 28% · 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
21% of THE FLEA THEATER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
88% of THE FLEA THEATER INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M 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.
Against its field
THE FLEA THEATER INC's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding THE FLEA THEATER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $155k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$155k
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 FLEA THEATER 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
52%
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 FLEA THEATER 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 THE FLEA THEATER INC?
- THE FLEA THEATER INC (New York) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,863,628 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($1,350,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FLEA THEATER INC have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $5,863,628 in grants to THE FLEA THEATER INC, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FLEA THEATER INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,350,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FLEA THEATER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Flea Theater →
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 46 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