Minnesota · Nonprofit
THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC
THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,599,339 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($2,336,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $3.7M
What The Playwrights' Center Inc does
Mission
The playwrights' center champions playwrights and new plays to build upon a living theater that demands new and innovative works. The center focuses on both supporting playwrights and promoting new plays to production at theaters across the country.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Made possible by the mcknight, jerome, and tides foundations, fellowships provide approximately $365,000 each year for residencies, commissions, health anv living stipends, and development funds. Through these fellowships, the playwrights' center functions as a home for : two minnesota-based mcknight fellows in playwriting: one nationally-based mcknight national residency and commission fellow, three mcknight theater artist fellows, four nationally-based jerome fellowships for emerging playwrights; two many voices fellows of color (one minnesota-based); two minnesota-based many voices mentees, and three venturous playwright fellows each receive an award of $50,000 over two years, as well as a production subsidy grant of up to $50,000 to support a production of the play at a theater of the playwright's choosing. Throughout their two-year fellowships, the playwrights are in residence at the playwrights' center where they have access to an individually-tailored lineup of new play development and advocacy resources.
$951,844 spentof which $268,903 as grants$100,713 earned by the program40% of program spendingThe core writer program gives 25-30 playwrights from across the country the time and tools to develop new works for the stage. All core writers receive play development workshops at the center in collaboration with prominent directors, actors, dramaturgs, and designers. Selected work by core writers makes up the formal season of public readings: the annual playlabs festival and ruth easton new play series. The center also promotes core writers and gives them opportunities to connect with producing theaters, colleges, and universities through the regulars and new plays on campus programs.we offer online playwriting and television-writing courses taught by today's leading writers in the field for students from all over the country.
$1,086,066 spent46% of program spendingMembership is open to all and provides more than 1,500 playwrights worldwide with tools, resources, and support. Benefits include a database of playwriting opportunities, online and in-person classes and seminars, access to readings with professional actors, dramaturgical services, and more. In addition, the playwrights' center's new plays on campus program serves dozens of colleges and universities nationwide, providing script-matching services, arranging playwright residencies, and offering immersive apprenticeships to student playwrights.
$315,630 spent13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,353,540.
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 2024 to 2025, from $7.7M to $15M (+93%).
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 6% · 2018 6% · 2019 8% · 2020 18% · 2021 12% · 2022 21% · 2023 23% · 2024 70% · 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 3 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
Michael Winn
Board president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $206k → $1.4M.
14 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 93% · 2018 87% · 2019 92% · 2020 52% · 2021 42% · 2022 25% · 2023 34% — 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
63% of THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
64% of THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.2M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$4.0M
- National Endowment for the Arts$245k
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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER 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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER 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 PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC?
- THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,599,339 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($2,336,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $7,599,339 in grants to THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,336,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. 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 Playwrights' Center →
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 41 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