Optimist Theatre
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 391769252
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2009
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI, USA
- Phone
- 2624985777
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $163,809
- Expenses
- $139,608
- Assets
- $58,936
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Michelle Owczarski (President)
- Michelle Owczarski (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Michelle Owczarski (President)
- Michelle Owczarski (Vice President)
- Emiliio DeTorre (Board member)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Shakespeare in the Park, provides free, professional productions of Shakespeare? s plays in public parks throughout the greater Milwaukee area. In 2025, performances were held during the summer season and reached thousands of attendees from diverse communities. The program promotes access to the arts, community engagement, and cultural enrichment by removing financial and geographic barriers to participation.
What it reported doing in 2025
Free Shakespeare in the Park productions offered primarily in public parks around the greater Milwaukee area. Approx 2500 individuals served of all ages
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 54.9%; rating input score 55
- Program expense ratio: 64.5%; rating input score 64
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 14.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -7.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 54.9% of revenue deployed · 64.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $90K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 5 of 6 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part I part ii net assets crosscheck did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.