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Illinois · Nonprofit

THEATER WIT NFP

THEATER WIT NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $593,283 to it, the largest being BAYLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$978k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$593k
Net assets
$-46828
9/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 16%
01What it does

What Theater Wit Nfp does

Mission

Theater wit dedicates itself to producing plays that are both funny and smart. With groundbreaking new plays and classic works, we seek to engage our audience with wit and wisdom.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. To bring live theater to the chicago area with at least one performance per year.three theater spaces provide affordable and well-equipped theatrical space for non-profit organizations and community groups.

    $755,793 spent$419,574 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $755,793.

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 ($685k) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets -1959 ($-396498)2018 Revenue 127 ($870k) Expenses 74 ($794k) Net assets -1586 ($-321117)2019 Revenue 154 ($1.1M) Expenses 67 ($711k) Net assets 100 ($20k)2020 Revenue 73 ($502k) Expenses 44 ($465k) Net assets 244 ($49k)2021 Revenue 102 ($702k) Expenses 71 ($756k) Net assets 4 ($716)2022 Revenue 124 ($851k) Expenses 74 ($792k) Net assets 293 ($59k)2023 Revenue 135 ($927k) Expenses 101 ($1.1M) Net assets -433 ($-87567)2024 Revenue 143 ($978k) Expenses 88 ($937k) Net assets -231 ($-46828)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (143)Expenses (88)Net assets (-231)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 $194k to $572k (+195%).

$208k
$217k
$211k
$173k
$194k
$572k
$379k
$482k
'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: 2017 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 4% · 2020 9% · 2021 49% · 2022 3% · 2023 13% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

57% of THEATER WIT NFP’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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.

−$383k
’17
$75k
’18
$341k
’19
$38k
’20
−$55k
’21
$59k
’22
−$147k
’23
$41k
’24
1.8
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
Listed5571298810
Joined·+0+2+5+0+0+0+2
No longer listed·0003100
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $26k → $120k.

3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 THEATER WIT NFP’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

THEATER WIT NFP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

29%
largest funder
69%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 100% · 2019 66% · 2020 38% · 2021 35% · 2022 45% · 2023 42% — 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

71% of THEATER WIT NFP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 82% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

79% of THEATER WIT NFP's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NY
DC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $35k 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

THEATER WIT NFP runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin4% · above the median
Months of reserve1.8mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

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

Government funding THEATER WIT NFP receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $45k on record.

Federal$45k
grants $45kcontracts $0
24
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$45k

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 THEATER WIT NFP

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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

81% of spending goes to programs.

Program 81%Management 14%Fundraising 5%

Governance

10
board members
80%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

90%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THEATER WIT NFP: 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 THEATER WIT NFP?
THEATER WIT NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $593,283 to it, the largest being BAYLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THEATER WIT NFP have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $593,283 in grants to THEATER WIT NFP, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THEATER WIT NFP?
BAYLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THEATER WIT NFP find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Theater Wit Nfp →

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 11 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