Illinois · Nonprofit
Writers Theatre Inc
Writers Theatre Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 132 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,522,728 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND ALEXANDRA NICHOLS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,355,000). 96 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.0M
- Funders on record
- 132
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $34M
What Writers Theatre Inc does
Mission
Writers Theatre (WT) is a literary organization that operates not-for-profit theatres in Glencoe, Illinois. The Writers Theatre mission is to create intimate connections through astonishing performances and innovative programs; activating relationships between artists and community; and inviting people to gather in our spaces for transformative experiences. Central to this mission are three values: lead with the art; build a connected community; and nurture organizational culture, health, and equity.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Artistic Programming:The 2024/25 Season opened with the Chicago premiere of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, directed and choreographed by Katie Spelman (September 5 - October 3, 2024). Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, directed by Kimberly Senior, followed, bringing its award-winning, intimate storytelling to WT (November 1, 2024 - January 13, 2025). Acclaimed writer and performer Vanessa Severo presented Frida....A Self Portrait, directed by Joanie Schultz, in a solo performance (January 23 - February 23, 2025). Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham then helmed Brian Friel's Translations (April 3 - May 4, 2025). The 24/25 Season closed with the world premiere of Dhaba on Devon Avenue by Madhuri Shekar, directed by Chay Yew (June 20 - July 27, 2025).
$5,621,788 spent$2,659,754 earned by the program96% of program spendingEducational Programming:WT Education continued to expand program capacity in the 2024-25 school year, building on sustained post-pandemic recovery. Core programs, including the Novel Series and Student Matinees, operated at or above pre-pandemic levels, with increased classroom partnerships and new school relationships. We remain focused on expanding access for students with limited, inequitable access to arts education and live theatre experiences, particularly through partnerships with Chicago Public Schools and Communities in Schools. WT Education served over 3,000 students and community members across programs and deepened its impact through both school-based and onsite initiatives that connect the art onstage with broader community engagement. RESIDENCY PROGRAMIn the 2024/25 school year, The Novel Series served 900 Chicago Public School students across 35 classrooms in 9 schools, surpassing pre-pandemic capacity. WT Education expanded partnerships with three new schools and continued collaboration with Communities in Schools-Chicago to increase access for students in under-resourced communities, with a focus on equitable program delivery and sustained school…
$170,563 spent$53,898 earned by the program3% of program spendingLiterary Development Initiative:Since its founding in 1992, WT has produced more than 160 productions ranging from inventive interpretations of classic works to world premieres. In the 2024/25 season, we hosted a workshop of Edgardo or White Fire by Cary Perloff, the former Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, who will direct our production of Leopoldstadt in our 2025/26 season. The Edgardo workshop, featuring actor David Strathairn, concluded with an invited reading. That same year, Hershey Felder utilized the LDI to workshop his newest composer piece, Rachmaninoff and the Tsar. A reading directed by Trevor Hay was presented for a ticketed audience before the work went on to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, where it received rave reviews, and has since returned to our theatre to open the 2025/26 season.
$41,534 spent1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,833,885.
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 2024 to 2025, from $33M to $37M (+12%).
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: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 26% · 2022 42% · 2023 19% · 2024 3% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of Writers Theatre Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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
Kathryn M Lipuma
Executive Director
Board chair
Jaime Freeman
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 52 funders to 58 funders, grant income fell $1.8M → $1.3M.
17 of 132 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Writers Theatre Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 132 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
Writers Theatre Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 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 Writers Theatre Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 11% · 2019 19% · 2020 38% · 2021 18% · 2022 17% · 2023 16% — 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
50% of Writers Theatre Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
87% of Writers Theatre Inc's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
Writers Theatre Inc runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Writers Theatre Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $80k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$80k
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 Writers Theatre 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
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 Writers 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Writers Theatre Inc?
- Writers Theatre Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 132 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,522,728 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND ALEXANDRA NICHOLS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($2,355,000). 96 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Writers Theatre Inc have?
- IRS filings report 132 organizations giving $14,522,728 in grants to Writers Theatre Inc, 96 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Writers Theatre Inc?
- JOHN D AND ALEXANDRA NICHOLS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,355,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Writers Theatre Inc 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 Writers Theatre →
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 132 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing