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Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative

To engage working men and women, and the community at large, in order to improve health, income, and education.

$2.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
30
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$405k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Employment$3.9MHousing & Shelter$217kEnvironment$127kFood & Nutrition$100kRecreation & Sports$97kCommunity Improvement$96kScience & Tech$66kHealth$60kOther$0
02FY2025 · 30 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 30 grants below total $1,591,142, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,101,967 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $510,825 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $365k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $431k
  • $250k+2 grants · $761k
$14,032
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
IUOE Local 399 Ed Training Fund$405,033
IBEW Local 9 Apprenticeship$356,172
USIC Locating Services LLC$217,321
Climate Pros$89,659
Ironworkers Local 1$71,094
Architectural Metal Trainee School for Local 63$52,826
Select Development$49,043
Air & Wellness Safety Training Company$43,274
Spider Company$35,669
Oberg Medical Products$30,035
Local 444 Ironworkers$20,056
Illinois Institute of Technology$20,000
Concussion Legacy Foundation$20,000
Special Olympics IL$16,500
AJR Industries$14,032
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 79% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Concussion Legacy Foundation: $20k → 16%MEADE ELECTRIC INC: $28k → 7%IBEW Local 9 Apprenticeship: $356k → 7%Special Olympics IL: $17k → 11%AJR Industries: $14k → 14%MAC PLASTICS MANUFACTURING: $17k → 15%Spider Company: $36k → 15%IYA FOODS: $100k → 7%SPECIAL OLYMPICS IL: $15k → 11%IRONWORKERS LOCAL 1 APPRENTICESHIP: $73k → 14%USIC Locating Services LLC: $217k → 7%Local 444 Ironworkers: $20k → 7%REYNOLDS CONSUMER PRODUCTS: $34k → 8%MECHANICS LOCAL 701 TRAINING FUND: $55k → 7%Ironworkers Local 1: $71k → 14%MECHANICS LOCAL 701 TRAINING FUND: $18k → 7%IBEW LOCAL 9 APPRENTICESHIP: $188k → 14%FRESENIUS KABI USA LLC: $15k → 14%Climate Pros: $90k → 7%Oberg Medical Products: $30k → 14%HYDAC TECHNOLOGY CORP: $22k → 7%IUOE LOCAL 399 ED TRAINING FUND: $444k → 14%CLIMATE PROS LLC: $19k → 7%IUOE Local 399 Ed Training Fund: $405k → 14%IUOE LOCAL 399 ED TRAINING FUND: $167k → 14%IUOE LOCAL 399: $128k → 14%ELECTRICAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP & TRAINING TRUST: $467k → 14%Illinois Institute of Technology: $20k → 14%ELECTRICAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING TRUST: $141k → 14%Architectural Metal Trainee School for Local 63: $53k → 14%RIGGERS MACHINERY MOVERS AND MACHINERY ERECTORS: $16k → 14%Navy Pier: $12k → 14%ARCHITECTUAL METAL TRAINEE SCHOOL FOR LOCAL 63: $49k → 14%IUOE LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND: $387k → 14%IUOE LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND: $375k → 14%ILLINOIS ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $25k → 14%THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES LOCAL TWO: $85k → 14%CHICAGO FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS: $25k → 14%Select Development: $49k → 14%SEIU LOCAL 1 TRAINING FUND: $17k → 14%CHICAGO JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $12k → 14%Chicago Jobs With Justice: $12k → 14%SUPER APPLIANCE MAN: $13k → 14%CHICAGO JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $12k → 14%Air & Wellness Safety Training Company: $43k → 14%LIUNA CHICAGOLAND LABORERS TF: $73k → 14%LIUNA CHICAGOLAND LABORERS TRAINING AND APPRENTICE FUND: $57k → 14%POWER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LLC: $23k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.2M · 18 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 18 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
22

Total granted

$3.2M
$842k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+12%

Still filing today

89%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 44% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $887k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’25
EducationEmploymentPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • IU
    INT'L UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FUND
    4× · 2022–2025 · $1.0M · revenue +31%
  • OE
    OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND
    3× · 2022–2024 · $762k · revenue +27%
  • NI
    NORTHERN ILLINOIS ELECTRICAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING TRUST
    3× · 2022–2024 · $608k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • IL
    IBEW LOCAL 9 APPRENTICESHIP
    one grant, 2022 · $188k
  • IU
    INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 HEALTH & WELFARE TRUgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $128k · revenue +30%
  • IF
    IYA FOODS
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Local 697 Ibew Apprentice

Apprentice training

Employment
2
International Union of Operating Enginee Local Union 450 Appreticeship Training

The trust was established to provide apprenticeship and journeyman training, testing, education, job skill development and enhancement for the operating engineer trades.

Employment
3
I U O E Local 98 Eng'rs Jt Tng Skl Imprvmt Safety Edu App & Tng Fund

To provide training, skill improvement and safety education to eligible participants.

—
4
Laborers' Int'l Union of North America District Council of Chicago

To promote unity of action in dealing with employers and to coordinate and consolidate the activities of its various affiliated local unions so they can work in a harmonious and united way.

—
5
Iuoe Local 891 Education & Training Fund

To pay or provide tuition and expenses for courses, education and training for eligible participants.

Education
6
International Union of Operating Eng Local 841 App and Training Trust

To provide job training programs for personnel employed as operating engineers in Indiana and Illinois.

Education
7
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 571 Training Fund

Training and education of operating engineers.

Education
8
Joint Apprenticeship and Training Trust Fund Local 103 Ibew

To develop the most skilled, responsible and responsive electricians and technicians in the united states of america. we are dedicated to building professionals who have the expertise, character and sense of teamwork to bring value to the…

Employment
9
Jatc for the Electrical Industry

The organization provides instruction for apprentices and journeymen in the electrical industry.

Education
10
Internat'l Union of Operating Engineers Local 295-295C Joint Educational Fund

Education and training to improve the skills of member engineers in the international union of operating engineers, local 295-295b, c, d.

Employment
11
International Union of Operating Engineers 150

Labor organization representing members in a variety of industries including construction, construction material production, steel mill services/slag processing, landscaping and many others principally in illinois, indiana and iowa. the…

—
12
Sheet Metal Workers' Local 218(S) Apprentice Training and Development Fund

To provide training for members of local 218s.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Liuna Chicagoland Laborers' District Council Training and Apprentice Fund; the most unlike its peers is Chicago Jobs With Justice. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

35 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 35 of the 58 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
34/35
Grantees still filing
20/35
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

INT'L UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FUND: $1,015,577 · OtherINT'L UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FUNDLOCAL 9 IBEW & MIDDLE STATES APPRENTICE AND JOURNEYMAN TRAINING FUND: $356,172 · OtherLOCAL 9 IBEW & MIDDLE STATES APPRENTICE AND JOURNEYMAN TRAINING FUNDUSIC Locating Services LLC: $217,321 · OtherUSIC Locating Services LLCIBEW LOCAL 9 APPRENTICESHIP: $188,060 · OtherIBEW LOCAL 9 APPRENTICESHIPTHE APPRENTICE TRAINING FUND FOR LOCAL 1 OF THE IABSOIW: $143,738 · OtherINTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 HEALTH & WELFARE TRU: $127,972 · OtherClimate Pros: $108,939 · Other+33 more: $987,479 · Other+33 moreOPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND: $762,176 · EmploymentOPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 A…NORTHERN ILLINOIS ELECTRICAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING TRUST: $607,600 · EmploymentNORTHERN ILLINOIS ELECTRICAL JO…+1 more: $8,200 · EmploymentMECHANICS LOCAL 701 TRAINING FUND: $72,739 · EducationJESSE WHITE FOUNDATION LTD: $30,000 · EducationIllinois Institute of Technology: $20,000 · EducationCIVIC CONSULTING ALLIANCE: $20,000 · EducationILLINOIS ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $45,000 · Community ImprovementNEW COVENANT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $10,000 · Community ImprovementPUSH FOR EXCELLENCE INC: $10,000 · Community ImprovementSWEENEY CLASSIC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyEQUALITY ILLINOIS: $17,500 · PhilanthropyLABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyCHICAGO JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $36,000 · Civil RightsJUNETEENTH ILLINOIS INC NFP: $20,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY PIER INC: $12,000 · Arts & CultureCONCUSSION LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · HealthCOOK COUNTY HEALTH FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Health
Other$3,145,258Employment$1,377,976Education$142,739Community Improvement$65,000Philanthropy$57,500Civil Rights$36,000Arts & Culture$32,000Health$30,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetINT'L UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FUND: $1,015,577 over 4y, 6.3% of budgetOPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 APPRENTICESHIP FUND: $762,176 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS ELECTRICAL JOINT APPRENTICESHIP AND TRAINING TRUST: $607,600 over 3y, 16% of budgetTHE APPRENTICE TRAINING FUND FOR LOCAL 1 OF THE IABSOIW: $143,738 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetINTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 399 HEALTH & WELFARE TRU: $127,972 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetARCHITECTUAL METAL TRAINEE SCHOOL FOR 63 AND THE IRON LEAGUE OF CHICAGO: $102,147 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetTHEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES UNION LOCAL TWO: $85,479 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetMECHANICS LOCAL 701 TRAINING FUND: $72,739 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetLIUNA CHICAGOLAND LABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL TRAINING AND APPRENTICE FUND: $65,917 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetILLINOIS ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $45,000 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS: $41,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $36,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetJESSE WHITE FOUNDATION LTD: $30,000 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetSWEENEY CLASSIC: $30,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetAMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS OF THE US AND CANADA LOCAL #10-208: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMACHINERY MOVERS RIGGERS AND ERECTORS UNION LOCAL #136 TRAINING TRUST: $23,067 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetLOCAL #444 IRON WORKERS JOINT APPRENTICESHIP & TRAINING TRUST FUND: $20,056 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCIVIC CONSULTING ALLIANCE: $20,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetJUNETEENTH ILLINOIS INC NFP: $20,000 over 3y, 35% of budgetEQUALITY ILLINOIS: $17,500 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetSEIU LOCAL NO 1 TRAINING FUND: $17,379 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetSOS CHILDREN'S VILLAGES-USA INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetNEW COVENANT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPUSH FOR EXCELLENCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHIRE360: $8,200 over 2y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Indiana Illinois & Io…Laborers' Int'L Union…The Chicago Community…Amazonsmile Foundation
Indiana Illinois & Iowa Foundation for Fair ContractingIL15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Indiana Illinois & Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting · Laborers' Int'L Union of North America District Council of Chicago · The Chicago Community Trust · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative?

    Find your warmest path to Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 58 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Chicago Federation of Labor Workforce and Community Initiative’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home