Washington · Nonprofit
THE TAPROOT THEATRE
THE TAPROOT THEATRE (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,023,280 to it, the largest being MARGERY JONES TR ($1,154,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.1M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What The Taproot Theatre does
Mission
Taproot theatre company tells stories of hope, serving the pacific northwest through live theatre and educational programs. Taproot theatre values faith, respects people, and celebrates theatre.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Taproot is dedicated to creating quality art that unites people through the unique power of live storytelling and the relationships that we build and nurture. Strategically located as one of the largest theatres outside seattle's downtown arts corridor, taproot strives to become the theatre of choice for north seattle/northwest king county. Taproot generates a shared sense of community of hope for both audiences and artists with stories that amplify the hope, courage, self-sacrifice, love and redemption in our world. Since resuming live in-person productions on the mainstage in november 2021 after an 18-month delay brought on by the pandemic, taproot has produced a gamut of productions ranging from classical drama to modern comedy to regional premiere musicals, all sharing the common theme of hope.making theatre is very different today than it was before the pandemic, but we adapt and adjust continually to try to get it right. It's worth it. We believe that stories, beautifully realized by a skilled artistic team, have the power to move people, inspiring them towards empathy, community, grace, growth, and love of neighbor.taproot theatre company performed 5 productions in its…
$2,752,491 spent$1,735,321 earned by the program78% of program spendingEducation and outreach: The Taproot Theatre's road company consists of 5 actors who perform social-emotional learning plays at public and private schools. These plays focus on bullying prevention, accepting differences, and empathy and emotional management. The Taproot Theatre acting studio creates a nurturing environment to help youth and adult students develop their unique theatrical talents and gifts. During 2025, the acting studio offered classes and residency opportunities to more than 400 students.
$776,343 spent$388,822 earned by the program22% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,528,834.
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 2020 to 2021, from $6.3M to $7.9M (+25%).
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: 2020 17% · 2021 7% · 2022 37% · 2023 1% · 2024 2% · 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
45% of THE TAPROOT THEATRE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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 Woodward
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $49k → $203k.
14 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 TAPROOT THEATRE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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 TAPROOT THEATRE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 38% 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
48% 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 TAPROOT THEATRE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 31% · 2019 28% · 2020 15% · 2021 86% · 2022 18% · 2023 20% — 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
58% of THE TAPROOT THEATRE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
THE TAPROOT THEATRE draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 TAPROOT THEATRE's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE TAPROOT 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Taproot Theatre Building LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE TAPROOT 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.
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 TAPROOT THEATRE?
- THE TAPROOT THEATRE (Washington) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,023,280 to it, the largest being MARGERY JONES TR ($1,154,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE TAPROOT THEATRE have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $3,023,280 in grants to THE TAPROOT THEATRE, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE TAPROOT THEATRE?
- MARGERY JONES TR is the largest funder on record, with $1,154,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE TAPROOT THEATRE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Taproot 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 35 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