Texas · Nonprofit
Theatre Under the Stars Inc
Theatre Under the Stars Inc (Texas) receives grants from 69 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,216,338 to it, the largest being THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC ($2,250,000). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 69
- Grants received
- $9.2M
- Net assets
- $3.8M
What Theatre Under the Stars Inc does
Mission
TUTS is dedicated to enriching life through the experience of quality musical theatre, the development of future artists, and the creation of new works. Through innovative education and community outreach initiatives, TUTS positively impacts lives beyond the stage.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The 2024 - 2025 Theatre Under The Stars Season brought more than 145,500 guests to the Hobby Center, with 145,509 tickets sold across 125 performances, reaffirming TUTS' role as Houston's home for musical theatre. The season featured an exciting mix of Broadway hits and acclaimed new productions, opening with the Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen, followed by Little Shop of Horrors. The holidays were anchored by Disney's Frozen, alongside the return of the fan-favorite The Ugly Xmas Sweater Musical. The spring continued with Mean Girls, a new co-production of Waitress in partnership with Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, and concluded with the exuberant, community-centered In the Heights.
$14,093,087 spent$11,181,671 earned by the program94% of program spendingEducation and community outreach initiatives: Humphreys School of Musical Theatre is committed to providing the Houston area with the best theatrical training and performing arts education. It is the goal of HSMT to give all students who walk through its doors a greater understanding of musical theatre and of themselves equipping young people with the tools they need to be successful in whatever they choose to do in life. Founded in 1996, The River provides affordable, accessible arts education to individuals with disabilities and their siblings. After merging with TUTS in 2010, The River's classes and opportunities expanded to include programming for young adults. This inclusive performance troupe has performed at many notable events across the city.
$971,384 spentof which $86,080 as grants$869,117 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,064,471.
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 2019 to 2020, from $18M to $13M (−31%).
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: 2021 18% · 2022 37% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
33% of Theatre Under the Stars 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. 5 of the last 8 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
Hillary J Hart
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 30 funders, grant income fell $1.3M → $1.0M.
14 of 69 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $5.6M from 9 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Houston Arts Alliance). These are real filings, and they are not money Theatre Under the Stars Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Theatre Under the Stars Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 69 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 Under the Stars Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
30% 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 Theatre Under the Stars Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 26% · 2019 36% · 2020 34% · 2021 42% · 2022 25% · 2023 22% — 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
49% of Theatre Under the Stars Inc'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
99% of Theatre Under the Stars Inc's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 Under the Stars Inc receives grants from 69 organizations whose IRS filings report $9.2M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Theatre Under the Stars Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$30k
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 Under the Stars 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Matagoger Productions · exempt
- TUTS Productions · exempt
- The River Performing & Visual Arts · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Theatre Under the Stars 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 Theatre Under the Stars Inc?
- Theatre Under the Stars Inc (Texas) receives grants from 69 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,216,338 to it, the largest being THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC ($2,250,000). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Theatre Under the Stars Inc have?
- IRS filings report 69 organizations giving $9,216,338 in grants to Theatre Under the Stars Inc, 45 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Theatre Under the Stars Inc?
- THE WORTHAM FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Theatre Under the Stars Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 69 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