California · Nonprofit
Uprise Theatre
Uprise Theatre (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $146,785 to it, the largest being San Diego County Bar Foundation ($126,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $142k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $147k
- Net assets
- $119k
What Uprise Theatre does
Mission
The Mission of Uprise Theatre is to use art and activist lawyering to disrupt systems of oppression and reclaim power with the people. The Vision of Uprise Theatre is that now will be the time in history in which all peoples are treated by the legal system as full human beings with corresponding full human rights. We maintain the Values of Uprise Theatre by being authentic in the way we relate to ourselves and others; we are unapologetic in our desire of liberation for all people; and we are a community-based organization. Uprises flagship programs are our Arts and Theatre projects. The theatre program uses actors as peer educators; re-teaching legal principles taught to them to the larger community through free live performances. In addition we have created an improv know your rights workshop where we ask community members to respond in real time to hypothetical interactions with law enforcement. Under the umbrella of the Uprise Theatre Legal and Arts program falls the Know Your
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Our Equal Access to Justice Program provides criminal coaching for indigent people facing criminal charges. We are funded by the San Diego County Bar Foundation and help on average 50 people per year and over the past 5 years we have saved 534 years of prison time.
$25,000 spentof which $25,000 as grants63% of program spendingUprise and Grind is a new program under Uprise Theatres Art and Theatre Program. Uprise & Grind cultivates the power of community by centering locally-owned neighborhood coffee shops as the venue for our groundbreaking theatre and arts program. A special Uprise Theatre project Uprise & Grind collaborates with five coffee shops around San Diego to bring the artistic and innovative teaching of legal rights to the people. The grant goes from 2025-2026 with the bulk being accomplished in 2026.
$15,000 spentof which $100,000 as grants38% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $40,000.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Annie Rios
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $25k → $27k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Uprise Theatre’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
Uprise Theatre leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Uprise Theatre.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of Uprise Theatre's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $20k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Uprise Theatre runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Uprise 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
12%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Uprise 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 Uprise Theatre?
- Uprise Theatre (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $146,785 to it, the largest being San Diego County Bar Foundation ($126,500). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Uprise Theatre have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $146,785 in grants to Uprise Theatre, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Uprise Theatre?
- San Diego County Bar Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $126,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Uprise Theatre 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.
Play a game about who funds Uprise Theatre →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2025–2025), and the filings of 3 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