League of Chicago Theatres Foundation
Chicago, IL · EIN 36-3031980. Reported 55 grants totalling $620,897 to 53 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For League of Chicago Theatres Foundation, by its IRS classification it raises and distributes funds for arts & culture (NTEE A120).
- How spread out its giving is. 53 distinct organizations, with 4% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 0% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $6,150 and the largest $25,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany Park Theater Project | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Center for the Perf Arts Gsu | University Park, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Chicago Childrens Theatre | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Hyde Park Art Center | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Northlight Theatre Inc | Evanston, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Elmhurst Art Museum | Elmhurst, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Maywood Fine Arts Association | Maywood, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Free Street Programs Inc | Chicago, IL | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Aguijon II Theater Company | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Archi-Treasures Association | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Arts of Life | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Changing Worlds | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chicago Blues Museum | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Chicago City Theatre Company | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Collabor Action Theatre Company Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Congo Square Theatre Company | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Court Theatre Fund | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Definition Theatre Company | Skokie, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Englewood Arts a Missouri Non-Profit Corporation | Independence, MO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Grant Park Orchestral Association | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Green Star Movement Nfp | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Homewood Science Center | Homewood, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra | Park Forest, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Institute for Latino Progress | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Invictus Theatre Company | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Kalapriya Foundation Center for Indian Performing Art Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Momenta Inc | Oak Park, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mudlark Theater Company | Evanston, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Muntu Dance Theatre | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Non-Op Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Old Town School of Folk Music Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Playmakers Laboratory Theatre | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Salt Creek Ballet Company | Westmont, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Skyart Nfp | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Snow City Arts Foundation | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Special Gifts Theatre Inc | Northbrook, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Water People Theater Group Nfp | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| West Side Show Room | Rockford, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Crystal Lake Strikers Drumline Inc Nfp | Crystal Lake, IL | $9,712 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Art Encounter | Evanston, IL | $9,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Subtext Studio Theater | Chicago, IL | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Freeport Arts Center | Freeport, IL | $8,250 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Wasteshed | Chicago, IL | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Chopin Theatre Productions Nfp | Chicago, IL | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Prairie Center Arts Foundation | Schaumburg, IL | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Rivendell Theatre Ensemble | Chicago, IL | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Totallink to Community Inc | Northbrook, IL | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Barrington Youth Dance Ensemble Inc | Barrington, IL | $6,785 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago | Chicago, IL | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Theater Wit Nfp | Chicago, IL | $6,150 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
2 of 53 (4%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Center for the Perf Arts Gsu
POWERING THE ARTS PROGRAM
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 45 of 53 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 12 | $112,500 | $10,000 |
| 2021 | 26 | $299,897 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 1 | $7,500 | $7,500 |
| 2023 | 16 | $201,000 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
98% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Illinois.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from League of Chicago Theatres Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 16 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 17 N Wabash 520, Chicago, IL, 60602.
EIN 36-3031980 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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