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Maine · Nonprofit

The Saco River Theatre

The Saco River Theatre (Maine) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $399,231 to it, the largest being VIRGINIA HODGKINS SOMERS FOUNDATION INC ($95,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$312k
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$399k
Net assets
$195k
12/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 48%
01What it does

What The Saco River Theatre does

Mission

The Saco River Theatres mission is art, culture and the community.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Originals, professional theatre company, presents a wide range of material, from cutting edge dramas, to comedies, to full scale musical productions. They have maintained a low profile, yet are highly regarded as one of the finest theatre companies in New England. Ticket prices are the lowest in the state, and each production has a least one pay-what-you-can night to ensure that the plays are accessible to anyone wishing to attend.

  2. I wanted to say how much I appreciated being in The Saco River Theatre that night Home Schoolers Variety Show. There was something about the building that added tremendously to the atmosphere of the show and to the feeling that our families were involved in something timeless.. a sharing of talents and good will that could have taken place a hundred years ago in the same spirit of community that we experienced that evening. Thank you for maintaining this building and for sharing it with others. ---Earl Stevens, Portalnd, ME.

    $294,924 spent
    100% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $294,924.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($240k) Expenses 100 ($248k) Net assets 100 ($5k)2018 Revenue 90 ($217k) Expenses 95 ($235k) Net assets -94 ($-4743)2019 Revenue 116 ($278k) Expenses 96 ($238k) Net assets 486 ($25k)2020 Revenue 75 ($180k) Expenses 53 ($131k) Net assets 1442 ($73k)2021 Revenue 96 ($230k) Expenses 85 ($211k) Net assets 1831 ($93k)2022 Revenue 90 ($217k) Expenses 86 ($214k) Net assets 3099 ($157k)2023 Revenue 131 ($316k) Expenses 106 ($263k) Net assets 4129 ($209k)2024 Revenue 130 ($312k) Expenses 131 ($324k) Net assets 3864 ($195k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (130)Expenses (131)Net assets (3864)Peer revenue range

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 $95k to $160k (+67%).

$12k
$24k
$38k
$94k
$95k
$160k
$212k
$270k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 14% · 2021 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

77% of The Saco River Theatre’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$8k
’17
−$19k
’18
$41k
’19
$48k
’20
$19k
’21
$3k
’22
$53k
’23
−$11k
’24
1.2
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed10101198889
Joined·+0+3+1+0+0+2+4
No longer listed·0231023
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $8k → $80k.

3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 Saco River Theatre’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 Saco River Theatre has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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

24%
largest funder
54%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 100% · 2019 50% · 2020 41% · 2021 30% · 2022 45% · 2023 25% — 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

78% of The Saco River Theatre's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 92% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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 Saco River Theatre's grant income comes from Maine funders.

ME
MI
MA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maine out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $58k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

The Saco River Theatre's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−4% · below the median
Months of reserve1.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like The Saco River Theatre

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 Maine

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 9%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
88%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

ME

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Saco River Theatre: 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.

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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 Saco River Theatre?
The Saco River Theatre (Maine) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $399,231 to it, the largest being VIRGINIA HODGKINS SOMERS FOUNDATION INC ($95,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Saco River Theatre have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $399,231 in grants to The Saco River Theatre, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Saco River Theatre?
VIRGINIA HODGKINS SOMERS FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $95,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Saco River Theatre find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. 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 Saco River Theatre →

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 13 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