Michigan · Nonprofit
THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY
THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY (Michigan) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,157,428 to it, the largest being FORD PHILANTHROPY ($350,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $5.2M
What The Purple Rose Theatre Company does
Mission
The mission of the purple rose theatre is the creation of fresh, original productions that get audiences talking among themselves and feeling something new as well as helping artists achieve their professional and creative potential.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, The Purple Rose Theatre Company put on four productions which included office christmas party, fourteen funerals, my mother and the michigan/ohio war, and bert & trixie visit the vet. The organization sold over 40,000 tickets for these performances and brought in over 1,800,000 in ticket revenue.
$1,994,641 spent$1,937,289 earned by the program93% of program spendingThe purple rose theatre offers free concert readings of new plays as well as occasional lectures and panel discussions with playwrights, directors, designers and actors. This program is offered in partnership with the chelsea district library.
$147,872 spent7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,142,513.
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 $4.0M to $5.0M (+27%).
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 1% · 2019 2% · 2020 1% · 2021 39% · 2022 35% · 2023 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
34% of THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY’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
David Larsen
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $167k → $309k.
13 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
32% 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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 34% · 2019 30% · 2020 18% · 2021 28% · 2022 32% · 2023 19% — 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
41% of THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
75% of THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $689k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY is better cushioned than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY
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 Michigan
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
67%
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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY: 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 PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY?
- THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY (Michigan) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,157,428 to it, the largest being FORD PHILANTHROPY ($350,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $2,157,428 in grants to THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY?
- FORD PHILANTHROPY is the largest funder on record, with $350,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE PURPLE ROSE THEATRE COMPANY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Purple Rose Theatre Company →
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 39 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