Skip to content

Illinois · Nonprofit

WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE

WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE (Illinois) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $321,265 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($257,350). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2022
$1.3M
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$321k
Net assets
$-93270
7/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 9%
01What it does

What Windy City Playhouse does

Mission

Windy City Playhouse is a professional theater meant to entertain through exceptional contemporary, relevant and approachable art. Combining relatable material with high quality artistry, we seek to create work accessible by audiences of all kinds. In this aim we have created the playhouse as a space for audiences to linger before and after the performance. A place to decompress with art.

As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.

Program

  1. Windy City Playhouse is a professional theater meant to entertain through exceptional contemporary, relevant and approachable art. Combining relatable material with high quality artistry, we seek to create work accessible by audiences of all kinds. In this aim we have created the playhouse as a space for audiences to linger before and after the performance. A place to decompress with art.

    $728,085 spent$686,707 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2022 Form 990. Program spending in total: $728,085.

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 ($835k) Expenses 100 ($766k)2018 Revenue 115 ($959k) Expenses 132 ($1.0M)2019 Revenue 146 ($1.2M) Expenses 208 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 101 ($847k) Expenses 58 ($443k)2021 Revenue 132 ($1.1M) Expenses 116 ($885k)2022 Revenue 154 ($1.3M) Expenses 178 ($1.4M)
201720182019202020212022
Revenue (154)Expenses (178)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 2021 to 2022, from $797k to $104k (−87%).

$382k
$430k
$267k
$219k
$797k
$104k
201720182019202020212022
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

46% of WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$69k
’17
−$52k
’18
−$374k
’19
$404k
’20
$220k
’21
−$82k
’22
8.5
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.

201720182019202020212022
Listed108810910
Joined·+0+1+2+1+1
No longer listed·21020
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $67k → $40k.

5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE’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

WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

91% 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 WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE.

80%
largest funder
88%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 85% · 2019 89% · 2020 56% · 2021 88% · 2022 72% · 2023 99% — growing more concentrated.

“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

9% of WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

91% of WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE'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 $28k that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NY
CO
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $293k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE has grown faster than half of the 4,461 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−6% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,461 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2022

Organizations like WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE

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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

53% of spending goes to programs.

Program 53%Management 35%Fundraising 11%

Governance

10
board members
90%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE?
WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE (Illinois) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $321,265 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($257,350). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $321,265 in grants to WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE?
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO is the largest funder on record, with $257,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like WINDY CITY PLAYHOUSE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Windy City Playhouse →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 13 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