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· Public charity

Crossroads Fund Inc

The mission of crossroads fund, inc.

$4.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
179
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Civil Rights$3.9MArts & Culture$2.7MCommunity Improvement$2.5MCrime & Legal$2.4MYouth Development$1.4MHuman Services$1.4MHealth$1.2MEmployment$1.1MOther$0
02FY2025 · 179 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 179 grants below total $3,909,735, the rows itemized in this filing. The $4,018,165 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $108,430 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 $10k40 grants · $307k
  • $10k–50k121 grants · $2.3M
  • $50k–250k18 grants · $1.3M
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Lucy Parson Labs$100,000
Organized Communities Against$91,000
Chicago Freedom School$87,500
Building For Liberation Proje$80,000
Southside Together Organizing$78,000
BUILD Inc$76,500
Social and Environmental Entr$74,500
Cannabis Equity IL Coalition$74,000
March 13 Fund$74,000
Illinois Workers in Action$69,000
UNITED CHURCH OF ROGERS PARK$67,500
ARAB AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK$65,000
Blackroots Alliance$62,500
Alternatives Inc$60,000
Chicago Alliance Against Raci$58,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY21–25, $2.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ILLINOIS WORKERS IN ACTION: $78k → 7%Illinois Workers in Action: $69k → 7%Illinois Workers in Action: $61k → 7%Illinois Workers In Action: $25k → 7%Illinois Workers In Action: $12k → 7%Organized Com Against Deport: $63k → 14%Coalition for Spiritual and P: $80k → 14%Fathers Families & Healthy: $50k → 14%UnLearning Space NFP: $30k → 14%Coalition for Spiritual and P: $20k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $55k → 14%Jane Addams Senior Caucus: $25k → 14%Taking Back Our Lives: $17k → 14%Jane Addams Senior Caucus: $23k → 14%Midwest Immigration Bond Fund: $13k → 14%COALITION FOR SPIRITUAL AND P: $40k → 14%Alliance of the Southeast: $80k → 14%ALLIANCE OF THE SOUTHEAST: $80k → 14%Alliance of the Southeast: $70k → 14%Alliance of the SouthEast AS: $60k → 14%Alliance of the Southeast: $55k → 14%Latino Union of Chicago: $40k → 14%Latino Union of Chicago: $30k → 14%Haitian Congress: $53k → 14%Haitian Congress: $45k → 14%Life Impacters Foundation: $15k → 14%YOUTH NETWORK COUNCIL: $15k → 14%ILLINOIS COLLABORATI ON YOUTH: $13k → 14%Northside Action for Justice: $40k → 14%Kinfolk CoLab: $25k → 14%ROOT2FRUIT YOUTH FOUNDATION: $15k → 14%Telpochcalli Community Educat: $20k → 14%PASO - West Suburban Acti: $30k → 14%The Puddle Project: $25k → 14%THE PUDDLE PROJECT: $25k → 14%HOLISTIC BIRTH COLLECTIVE NFP: $105k → 14%Holistic Birth Collective NFP: $50k → 14%East Lake Tenants Union: $25k → 14%Hana Center: $38k → 14%East Lake Tenants Union: $15k → 14%EAST LAKE TENANTS UNION: $15k → 14%Equity and Transformation: $50k → 14%EXxperts Chicago: $30k → 14%FATHERS FAMILIES AND HEALTH: $50k → 14%Brave Space Alliance: $41k → 14%Fathers Families and Health: $35k → 14%Workers Education Society: $27k → 14%Center on Halsted: $25k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
IA
IN
PA
CA
DE
AZ
FL
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$19M · 202 repeat orgs$4.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

202 repeat relationships: 126 still active in FY2025, 76 since wound down; 50 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

202
198

Total granted

$19M
$3.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+1%

Still filing today

64%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $827k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalEducationOther
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

  • ST
    Southside Together Organizing For Power
    5× · 2021–2025 · $471k · revenue +182%
  • BI
    BUILD INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $353k · revenue +151%
  • OC
    Organized Communities Against Deportations
    4× · 2022–2025 · $351k · revenue +115%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2024 · $87k
  • CA
    Circles and Ciphers
    one grant, 2024 · $75k
  • MA
    Mamas Activating Movements fo
    one grant, 2024 · $65k
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
Injustice Watch Nfp

Injustice Watch is a Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organization that examines issues of equity and justice in the court system.

Civil Rights
2
Chicago Workers' Collaborative Nfp

Chicago Workers' Collaborative's mission is to promote full employment and equality for the lowest wage-earners, primarily temporary staffing workers, in the Chicago region through leadership and skills training, critical assistance and…

Education
3
Chicago Refugee Coalition

The Chicago Refugee Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated ot the alleviation of human suffering through innovative partnerships, advocacy and community empowerment.

Human Services
4
Heal Chicago

To strengthen communities through educational dialogue, leadership development, emotional resilience, and intercultural competence programs that help people bridge differences and build trust.

Public Benefit
5
Chicago Votes

Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government,…

Civil Rights
6
Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants

Serving recently arrived migrants and asylum seekers in the Chicagoland area and is committed to upholding the dignity and human rights of immigrants.

Human Services
7
The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence

The Network is a group of 40+ member organizations dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by gender-based violence through education, public policy and advocacy, and connecting community members with direct service providers.…

Human Services
8
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
9
Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago

The mission of the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago is to collectively advance Black excellence in the work of the Black arts and culture sector.

Arts & Culture
10
Chicago Freedom Trust
Philanthropy
11
Equity Arts

EQUITY ARTS is a center for the creative economy that advances racial equity and wealth-building for artists and entrepreneurs. This reparative ownership model preserves space for synergistic exchanges between value-aligned partners. The…

—
12
Midwest Academy

Training and consulting with community organizers, supervisors and volunteers.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Humanities Council Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Goldin Institute. 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

225 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. 225 of the 453 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.

27
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
86
Early backer (in before they grew)
206/225
Grantees still filing
132/225
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other less than 5000: $537,456 · Other+121 more: $10,844,262 · Other+121 moreMARCH 13 FUND: $845,785 · Community ImprovementMARCH 13 FU…Southside Together Organizing For Power: $471,000 · Community ImprovementSouthside T…PILSEN ALLIANCE: $273,000 · Community ImprovementPILSEN ALLI…THE WATERSHED CENTER INC: $127,000 · Community ImprovementTHE WATERSH…Nehemiah Group dba Chicago Eco House: $105,000 · Community ImprovementResilience Partners NFP: $79,000 · Community Improvement+5 more: $201,000 · Community Improvement+5 moreAlianza Leadership Institute: $345,000 · Human ServicesAlianza Le…ILLINIOS WORKERS IN ACTION: $245,000 · Human ServicesILLINIOS W…Holistic Birth Collective: $165,000 · Human ServicesHolistic B…FATHERS FAMILIES HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: $145,000 · Human ServicesFATHERS FA…COALITION FOR SPIRITUAL & PUBLIC LDRSHP: $140,000 · Human ServicesCOALITION …Latino Union of Chicago: $133,000 · Human ServicesLatino Uni…Jane Addams Senior Caucus: $110,000 · Human ServicesJane Addam…Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti: $98,000 · Human ServicesHaitian Co…THE HANA CENTER: $78,500 · Human ServicesCenter on Halsted: $66,000 · Human Services+7 more: $302,000 · Human Services+7 moreOrganized Communities Against Deportations: $351,000 · Civil RightsOrganized…BLACKROOTS ALLIANCE: $270,500 · Civil RightsBLACKROOT…Workers Center For Racial Just NFP: $200,000 · Civil RightsWorkers C…African-American Community Trust NFP: $160,000 · Civil RightsAfrican-A…BYP100 Education Fund: $107,000 · Civil RightsBYP100 Ed…Action Center on Race & the Economy Institute: $89,000 · Civil RightsAction Ce…THE CIVICLAB INC: $80,000 · Civil RightsChicago United for Equity: $70,000 · Civil Rights+7 more: $313,000 · Civil Rights+7 moreBorderless Magazine NFP: $239,109 · Arts & CultureSOAPBOX PRODUCTIONS AND ORGANIZING: $230,937 · Arts & CultureALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $109,848 · Arts & CultureChicago Torture Justice Memorials Foundation: $87,000 · Arts & CultureA LONG WALK HOME INC: $85,000 · Arts & CultureMezcla Media Collective LTD: $81,000 · Arts & CulturePUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE: $67,000 · Arts & CultureAbout Face Theatre Collective Inc: $67,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Art Department: $43,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $241,100 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL: $328,500 · EducationRAISE YOUR HAND FOR ILLINOIS PUBLIC EDUCATION: $210,000 · EducationThe Tenant Education Network: $138,000 · EducationCEIC CORP: $132,000 · EducationCENTER FOR IMMIGRANT RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY ARTS: $48,000 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $47,000 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $46,000 · Education+3 more: $104,500 · EducationFirst Defense Legal Aid: $159,000 · Crime & LegalLaw Center for Better Housing: $112,000 · Crime & LegalCITIZEN ADVOCACY CENTER: $106,000 · Crime & LegalTHE FREE ROOT OPERATION INC: $81,000 · Crime & LegalChicago Torture Justice Center: $78,500 · Crime & LegalGood Kids Mad City - Englewood: $65,000 · Crime & LegalPrison and Neighborhood Arts-Education Project: $62,000 · Crime & LegalWEST SIDE JUSTICE CENTER INC: $38,000 · Crime & LegalCHICAGO COMMUNITY BOND FUND: $35,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$11,381,718Community Improvement$2,101,785Human Services$1,827,500Civil Rights$1,640,500Arts & Culture$1,250,994Education$1,054,000Crime & Legal$736,500

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetMARCH 13 FUND: $845,785 over 4y, 40% of budgetSouthside Together Organizing For Power: $471,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetBUILD INC: $352,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetOrganized Communities Against Deportations: $351,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetAlianza Leadership Institute: $345,000 over 5y, 19% of budgetPEOPLE MATTER: $334,000 over 5y, 46% of budgetCHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL: $328,500 over 5y, 8.9% of budgetLugenia Burns Hope Center: $318,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetLUCY PARSONS LABS: $275,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetWORKING FAMILY SOLIDARITY: $273,000 over 5y, 27% of budgetSOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION: $272,000 over 4y, 8.0% of budgetTGI MOVEMENT: $272,000 over 5y, 26% of budgetBLACKROOTS ALLIANCE: $270,500 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetSIRAT CHICAGO: $252,682 over 4y, 28% of budgetILLINIOS WORKERS IN ACTION: $245,000 over 5y, 65% of budgetBorderless Magazine NFP: $239,109 over 5y, 8.8% of budgetSOAPBOX PRODUCTIONS AND ORGANIZING: $230,937 over 5y, 47% of budgetPublic Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago: $228,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetHealing to Action: $226,000 over 4y, 8.0% of budgetUNITED WORKING FAMILIES: $225,000 over 4y, 8.7% of budgetPEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY: $223,000 over 4y, 8.5% of budgetRAISE YOUR HAND FOR ILLINOIS PUBLIC EDUCATION: $210,000 over 4y, 21% of budgetWorkers Center For Racial Just NFP: $200,000 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetLIVE FREE CHICAGO: $184,000 over 5y, 8.9% of budgetHolistic Birth Collective: $165,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetArab American Action Network: $165,000 over 5y, 4.2% of budgetAfrican-American Community Trust NFP: $160,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetFirst Defense Legal Aid: $159,000 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $155,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE PEOPLE'S LOBBY EDUCATION INSTITUTE: $153,000 over 4y, 6.0% of budgetMEN & WOMEN IN PRISON MINISTRIES: $150,000 over 3y, 8.2% of budgetFATHERS FAMILIES HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: $145,000 over 4y, 34% of budgetCOALITION FOR SPIRITUAL & PUBLIC LDRSHP: $140,000 over 3y, 9.5% of budgetThe Tenant Education Network: $138,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetLatino Union of Chicago: $133,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetCEIC CORP: $132,000 over 4y, 21% of budgetTHE GOLDIN INSTITUTE: $130,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetTHE WATERSHED CENTER INC: $127,000 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetJUSTICE CREAM COLLECTIVE: $126,000 over 3y, 28% of budgetCO-OP ED CENTER NFP: $120,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetROGERS PARK COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK: $118,000 over 5y, 19% of budgetLaw Center for Better Housing: $112,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetJane Addams Senior Caucus: $110,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $109,848 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetAFFINITY COMMUNITY SERVICES: $108,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetBYP100 Education Fund: $107,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetCITIZEN ADVOCACY CENTER: $106,000 over 5y, 22% of budgetNehemiah Group dba Chicago Eco House: $105,000 over 4y, 5.4% 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.

  • Who funds MARCH 13 FUND ↗
  • Who funds Southside Together Organizing For Power ↗
  • Who funds BUILD INC ↗
  • Who funds Organized Communities Against Deportations ↗
  • Who funds Alianza Leadership Institute ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE MATTER ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Lugenia Burns Hope Center ↗
  • Who funds LUCY PARSONS LABS ↗
  • Who funds WORKING FAMILY SOLIDARITY ↗
  • Who funds PILSEN ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION ↗
  • Who funds TGI MOVEMENT ↗
  • Who funds BLACKROOTS ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds SIRAT CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds ILLINIOS WORKERS IN ACTION ↗
  • Who funds Borderless Magazine NFP ↗
  • Who funds SOAPBOX PRODUCTIONS AND ORGANIZING ↗
  • Who funds Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago ↗
  • Who funds Healing to Action ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WORKING FAMILIES ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY ↗
  • Who funds RAISE YOUR HAND FOR ILLINOIS PUBLIC EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds Workers Center For Racial Just NFP ↗
  • Who funds LIVE FREE CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds Holistic Birth Collective ↗
  • Who funds Arab American Action Network ↗
  • Who funds African-American Community Trust NFP ↗
  • Who funds First Defense Legal Aid ↗
  • Who funds Alliance for Global Justice Corp ↗
  • Who funds THE PEOPLE'S LOBBY EDUCATION INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds MEN & WOMEN IN PRISON MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds FATHERS FAMILIES HEALTHY COMMUNITIES ↗
  • Who funds WOMENS ALL POINTS BULLETIN-WAPB INC ↗
  • Who funds COALITION FOR SPIRITUAL & PUBLIC LDRSHP ↗

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.

Field Foundation of IllinoisIL136.1× affinity78 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Field Foundation of Illinois · Woods Fund of Chicago · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Chicago Foundation for Women · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Forefront · Conant Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Albert Pick Jr Fund · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · Julian Grace 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 Crossroads Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Crossroads Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    46report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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.

    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 453 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 Crossroads’ filings →

    More from the funding graph