Playwrights Horizons
Legal name: Playwrights Horizons Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 132805131
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 212 564 1235 x3142
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $14,666,869
- Expenses
- $14,231,938
- Assets
- $46,598,112
- Liabilities
- $23,884,183
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
41 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- LESLIE MARCUS (MANAGING DIRECTOR (TO JUN 24)): $378,242 total reported compensation
- ADAM GREENFIELD (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR): $188,270 total reported compensation
- CAROL FISHMAN (GENERAL MANAGER): $185,397 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Playwrights Horizons creates distinctly American new plays and musicals, commissioning and developing over 500 works since its founding, with a focus on supporting playwrights through commissions, workshops, and full productions.
What it reported doing in 2024
Theater school: operated in association with New York university's tisch school of the arts, this undergraduate program offers training in playwriting, directing, acting, voice and theater management. The theater school had 186 students in the year ending june 30, 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 89
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.9%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.27; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.5%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 82.1% of revenue deployed · 84.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 31 of 33 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $378K · 41 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.7M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.