California · Nonprofit
THE GREAT STAR THEATER
THE GREAT STAR THEATER (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $153,511 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($69,812). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $816k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $154k
- Net assets
- $174k
What The Great Star Theater does
Mission
Our mission is to thrive as the oldest chinese theater in the united states by cultivating traditional asian art forms, revitalizing the san francisco chinatown community, and nurturing emerging artists from diverse backgrounds.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Produced and presented over 100 live shows including several chinese operas and a number of community events. Many of these shows operated at a loss but we ensured that we provided a space and income opportunities for artists. Continue to overhaul of theater a/v system to support in-person as well as online shows, including new lights, sound, video, projection, and streaming systems. Continue to work on upgrades and renovations to the venue including heating, new signage, painting, plumbing, cleaning, etc. In 2025, The Great Star Theater celebrated its 100-year anniversary and continued to offer free community movie nights to serve and bring together the local community.
$744,542 spent$815,583 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $744,542.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $154k to $393k (+155%).
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.
3% of THE GREAT STAR THEATER’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Roger Pincombe
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $43k → $121.
5 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 GREAT STAR THEATER’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 GREAT STAR THEATER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 GREAT STAR THEATER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 67% · 2019 75% · 2020 100% · 2021 86% · 2022 76% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
14% of THE GREAT STAR THEATER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
68% of THE GREAT STAR THEATER's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $50k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $104k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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 GREAT STAR THEATER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like THE GREAT STAR THEATER
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
90% 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 THE GREAT STAR THEATER: 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 GREAT STAR THEATER?
- THE GREAT STAR THEATER (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $153,511 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($69,812). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE GREAT STAR THEATER have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $153,511 in grants to THE GREAT STAR THEATER, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GREAT STAR THEATER?
- NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $69,812 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GREAT STAR THEATER 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 Great Star Theater →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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