North Carolina · Nonprofit
Three Bone Theatre Inc
Three Bone Theatre Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $450,739 to it, the largest being Arts & Science Council Charlotte/Mecklenburg Inc ($138,156). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
Three Bone Theatre Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,664 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,664 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Alliance of Resident Theatres New York Incshared fundersportfolio match
- Arts Sciences & Cultural Council of Charlotte Mecklenburg Inclocalportfolio match
- The Lucille Lortel Foundation Incshared funders
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.
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: 2025 40%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of Three Bone Theatre Inc’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. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $8k → $78k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 Three Bone Theatre Inc’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
Three Bone Theatre Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
92% 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 Three Bone Theatre Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 70% · 2019 61% · 2020 60% · 2021 55% · 2022 71% · 2023 44% — 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
75% of Three Bone Theatre Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
55% of Three Bone Theatre Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $203k that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from North Carolina funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $248k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 9 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Alliance of Resident Theatres New York Incshared fundersportfolio matchNY · backs 33 organizations that share your funders · its grantees resemble your mission
- Arts Sciences & Cultural Council of Charlotte Mecklenburg Inclocalportfolio matchNC · funds 82 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- The Lucille Lortel Foundation Incshared fundersNY · backs 68 organizations that share your funders
- National New Play Network Ltdportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Theatre Communications Group Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Network of Ensemble Theaters Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Durham Arts Council Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bayless Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- United Arts Council of Greensboro Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Jim Henson Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover Countyportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding Three Bone Theatre Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 Three Bone Theatre Inc
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 Three Bone 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Three Bone Theatre Inc?
- Three Bone Theatre Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $450,739 to it, the largest being Arts & Science Council Charlotte/Mecklenburg Inc ($138,156). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Three Bone Theatre Inc have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $450,739 in grants to Three Bone Theatre Inc, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Three Bone Theatre Inc?
- Arts & Science Council Charlotte/Mecklenburg Inc is the largest funder on record, with $138,156 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Three Bone Theatre Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 9funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing