New York · Nonprofit
THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC
THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC (New York) receives grants from 186 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,803,161 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($5,180,336). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $25M
- Funders on record
- 186
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $34M
What The Second Stage Theatre Inc does
Mission
The theatre's exempt purpose is to give new life to contemporary american plays and to produce the world premieres of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights. A fundamental part of its purpose is theatre education, which is accomplished through special performances for new york city school children, subscriber discussions with theatre artists and an internship program.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Second Stage presented five shows during the 2024-2025 season. The season opened with "WALDEN" by Amy Berryman, which ran at the Tony Kiser Theater from October 17 to November 24, 2024. This play explored themes of environmental stewardship and human ambition through the story of two sisters confronting their diverging paths. Helmed by Whitney White, this production reached 11,532 theatergoers. Next, Leslye Headlan's "CULT OF LOVE" ran at the Helen Hayes Theater from November 20, 2024 to February 2, 2025. Directed by Trip Cullman, this play followed the Dahl family during the holiday season. Inquiring about the forces that separate and hold families together, the play followed the return of the family's adult children to their childhood home along with their partners. Old conflicts resurface, new issues battled, and dinner is taking forever. It welcomed 43,619 audience members. In early spring, we co-presented the Steppenwolf Theater Company production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' "PURPOSE, which ran at the Helen Hayes Theater from February 25 to August 31, 2025 and reached 83,293 people. Directed by Phylicia Rashad, this epic family drama followed the Jasper family, a pillar of…
$18,579,570 spent$16,107,495 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $18,579,570.
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 $46M to $67M (+47%).
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 34% · 2019 6% · 2020 1% · 2021 22% · 2022 29% · 2023 5% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
33% of THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 52 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $2.6M.
23 of 186 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 186 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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
47% 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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 56% · 2019 63% · 2020 12% · 2021 10% · 2022 12% · 2023 24% — 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
34% of THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
70% of THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC has grown faster than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $215k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$215k
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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE 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 New York
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
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- 240 West 44th Street One LLC · disregarded
- 240 West 44th Street Two LLC · disregarded
- Hh Landlord LLC · partnership
- HH Master Tenant LLC · partnership
- Hh Manager LLC · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE 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 SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC?
- THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC (New York) receives grants from 186 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,803,161 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND ($5,180,336). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC have?
- IRS filings report 186 organizations giving $23,803,161 in grants to THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC, 106 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC?
- JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND is the largest funder on record, with $5,180,336 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Second Stage Theatre →
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 186 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