California · Nonprofit
Theatre Bay Area
Theatre Bay Area (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,230,695 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($1,685,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $881k
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $235k
What Theatre Bay Area does
Mission
(cont from page 1) democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the largest and most dynamic theatre centers in the country. Theatre Bay Area was founded in 1976 to serve this vital artistic community, and is today one of the largest regional theatre service organizations in North America. Known for its thought leadership and innovative programming, TBA serves as a model for other service organizations around the country.Theatre Bay Areas membership is derived from 11 Bay Area counties and consists of almost 300 Bay Area theatre and dance companies, from multi-million dollar organizations to grassroots community groups; over 2,000 theatre artists; 100+ organizational members, from libraries and universities to theatre-related professional services; and some 22,000 theatre patron subscribers.
$583,825 spentof which $143,500 as grants$230,686 earned by the program100% of program spendingPrograms include:Equipping the field for success (Expenses $101,165)Programs include an Annual Conference which draws some 400 theatre artists and administrators for a day-long intensive of training and networking; professional development such as our ATLAS program, providing theater artists with training in career planning; grant programs such as CA$H, offering grants to artists and small-budget companies; General Auditions, annually showcasing 400 actors to 100 Bay Area theatres; online Audition and Job Listings and an online Talent Bank.
Recognizing achievement (Expenses $192,754)Special grants and awards such as the Glickman Award for a new play, Rella Lossy Award is an award for professionally oriented theatre organizations that will be presenting a world-premiere full-length play. During the year ended June 30, 2023, we awarded $170,000 in various grants to deserving artists and organizations.Developing audiences (Expenses $288,437)Programs include the Bay Area Audience Database, a unique tool, with dozens of arts nonprofits pooling their audience data on 1.8 million arts-goers to better their marketing and research options; and a weekly e-newsletter, The Theatregoer, which reaches thousands of subscribers.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $583,825.
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 2018 to 2019, from $698k to $1.3M (+86%).
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 2% · 2018 20% · 2019 7% · 2020 11% · 2021 23% · 2022 32% · 2023 12% · 2024 12% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of Theatre Bay Area’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% 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.
Chief executive
Sean Fenton
Exec Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $256k → $395k.
7 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 Theatre Bay Area’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
Theatre Bay Area leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 72% · 2018 70% · 2019 81% · 2020 31% · 2021 48% · 2022 61% · 2023 49% — 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
42% of Theatre Bay Area's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
92% of Theatre Bay Area's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $385k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Theatre Bay Area's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Theatre Bay Area receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $235k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$235k
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 Theatre Bay Area
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
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 Theatre Bay Area: 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 Theatre Bay Area?
- Theatre Bay Area (California) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,230,695 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($1,685,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Theatre Bay Area have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $3,230,695 in grants to Theatre Bay Area, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Theatre Bay Area?
- THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,685,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Theatre Bay Area find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 31 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