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BACKLIGHT PRODUCTIONS

EIN 46-2420034 FRANKLIN, TN

Largest nonprofits in Tennessee

Revenue 2024
$339,945
Expenses 2024
$355,542

Program services were 79.0% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
O50
Classification
1000
Street
2114 QUAIL CT

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADULTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS TO GAIN EDUCATION IN THE ARTS AND PERFORM SIGNIFICANT ROLES BEFORE LIVE AUDIENCES.

  • GENERAL PROGRAM - OUR GENERAL PROGRAM IS THE OVERALL OPERATIONAL COSTS TO RUN OUR BUSINESS, INCLUDING ENTITIES SUCH AS FACILITY RENTAL FOR OUR CLASSES TO TAKE PLACE, STORAGE UNIT TO STORE COSTUMES, SETS, AND PROPS FOALL CLASSES, AND EMPLOYEE AND CONTRACTOR SALARIES.

    Expenses $280,738 · Revenue $178,980

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Jill McNeese

    BOARD MEMBER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Scott Winter

    BOARD MEMBER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Taylor Epps

    VICE-CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Laura Baxter

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Colin Smith

    BOARD MEMBER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Dr Iris Johnson-Arnold

    BOARD MEMBER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Shannon Johnstone

    STUDENT REPRESENATIVE NON-VOTING

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Jake Speck

    FISCAL OFFICER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Jonah Turner

    BOARD MEMBER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Jeff Atwood

    BOARD CHAIR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    0

  • Melissa Smith

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $339,945
    Expenses
    $355,542
    Contributions
    $160,165
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $348,625
    Expenses
    $310,556
    Contributions
    $196,028
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $234,103
    Expenses
    $182,579
    Contributions
    $129,994
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $69,914
    Expenses
    $70,755
    Assets (EOY)
    $41,744

  • 2021 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $149,123
    Expenses
    $150,316
    Assets (EOY)
    $40,551

  • 2020 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $85,390
    Expenses
    $75,573
    Assets (EOY)
    $42,585

  • 2019 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $82,028
    Expenses
    $83,369
    Assets (EOY)
    $34,468

  • 2018 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $80,125
    Expenses
    $63,843
    Assets (EOY)
    $36,445

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Form 990-N e-Postcard, tax year 2017

Tax period
1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017
Principal officer
Melissa Smith
Mailing address
2114 Quail CourtFranklin TN 37064
Website
http://backlightproductions.org

As filed, from the IRS e-Postcard file of 2 November 2026. The IRS publishes only each organization's most recent postcard, so earlier years are not shown. A 990-N carries no financial detail. The postcard also gives the principal officer's address, which is not shown here.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 1 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.