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Missouri · Nonprofit

Upstream Theater

Upstream Theater (Missouri) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $305,307 to it, the largest being PERSHING CHARITABLE TRUST ($135,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$246k
Funders on record
9
Grants received
$305k
Net assets
$209k
5/9 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 63%
01What it does

What Upstream Theater does

Mission

Upstream Theater is a professional production company dedicated to bringing a world of theater to St. Louis. We believe that art engages as much as it entertains and that by feeding the senses we feed the soul. Our goal is to move you and to move you to think.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. In 2025 we presented the US premiere of Tino Caspanellos play Pictures From a Revolution translated from the Italian by Hawn Saussy. Next we staged the regional premiere of Zinnie Harris Meet Me at Dawn and the US premiere of An Orchard for Chekhov by Pedro Bricio translated from the Portuguese by Steven K. Smith. We also continued our Local Waters Global Waves series of community events which included an evening of poetry and music a critics roundtable and a community dialogue about the role of theater in the social fabric.

    $165,020 spent
    100% of program spending
  2. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending
  3. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $165,020.

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 ($104k) Expenses 100 ($97k) Net assets 100 ($18k)2018 Revenue 110 ($114k) Expenses 112 ($109k) Net assets 131 ($24k)2019 Revenue 118 ($122k) Expenses 128 ($124k) Net assets 120 ($22k)2020 Revenue 48 ($50k) Expenses 53 ($52k) Net assets 109 ($20k)2021 Revenue 73 ($76k) Expenses 47 ($46k) Net assets 274 ($50k)2022 Revenue 106 ($110k) Expenses 133 ($130k) Net assets 168 ($31k)2023 Revenue 196 ($203k) Expenses 73 ($71k) Net assets 895 ($163k)2024 Revenue 141 ($146k) Expenses 155 ($151k) Net assets 869 ($158k)2025 Revenue 237 ($246k) Expenses 201 ($195k) Net assets 1148 ($209k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (237)Expenses (201)Net assets (1148)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 2022 to 2023, from $35k to $173k (+394%).

$25k
$31k
$23k
$34k
$51k
$35k
$173k
$163k
$213k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 34% · 2024 22% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

85% of Upstream Theater’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$7k
’17
$6k
’18
−$2k
’19
−$2k
’20
$30k
’21
−$19k
’22
$133k
’23
−$5k
’24
$51k
’25
11
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.

Board chair

Charles Allen

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202320242025
Listed101113
Joined·+5+3
No longer listed·41
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $14k → $128k.

2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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 Upstream Theater’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

Upstream Theater leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

39% 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 Upstream Theater.

44%
largest funder
94%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 92% · 2019 55% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 69% · 2023 58% — 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

20% of Upstream Theater's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

100% of Upstream Theater's grant income comes from Missouri funders.

IL
MO

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

’17
’18
’19
’22
’23
Missouri out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Upstream Theater runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin21% · top quartile
Months of reserve11.3mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)11% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding Upstream Theater receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.

Federal$25k
grants $25kcontracts $0
20
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$25k

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 Upstream Theater

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 Missouri

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 11%Fundraising 5%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

95%

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 Upstream Theater: 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 Upstream Theater?
Upstream Theater (Missouri) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $305,307 to it, the largest being PERSHING CHARITABLE TRUST ($135,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Upstream Theater have?
IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $305,307 in grants to Upstream Theater, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Upstream Theater?
PERSHING CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $135,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Upstream Theater find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Upstream Theater →

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 9 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