South Carolina · Nonprofit
The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation
The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation (South Carolina) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,794,472 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($2,025,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $14M
What The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation does
Mission
The mission of the Martha & John M. Rivers Performance Hall Foundation is to improve and enhance the performing arts and arts education ecosystem within Charleston and throughout the Lowcountry region of South Carolina.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Martha & John M. Rivers Performance Hall Foundation was established with the general purpose of improving the nonprofit and public performing arts venues, theaters, and halls in and around Charleston, South Carolina; and to aid, support, promote, develop, maintain and manage educational programs and performances focused on the arts.We do this by promoting the growth of the Rivers Endowment for the Performing Arts and Education, thereby building and sustaining a vibrant culture of philanthropy, aligning resources generously contributed to support the artistic and educational missions of performing arts throughout the Charleston community.
$1,190,086 spentof which $1,000,734 as grants$206,559 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,190,086.
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 2021 to 2022, from $7.9M to $9.8M (+23%).
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: 2021 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
29% of The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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
Clay Grayson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $44k → $45k.
9 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation’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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
84% 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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 71% · 2019 72% · 2020 81% · 2021 61% · 2022 98% · 2023 55% — 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
10% of The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 37% 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
84% of The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation'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 $455k that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from funders outside South Carolina, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation
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 South Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation: 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 Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation?
- The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation (South Carolina) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,794,472 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC ($2,025,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $2,794,472 in grants to The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,025,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Martha and John M Rivers Performance Hall Foundation find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in South Carolina. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 19 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