· Public charity
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
The purpose of the ILLINOIS STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE is to promote the ecologically sustainable, economically viable, socially just, local food systems through policy development, advocacy, and education.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $8k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $44k
- $50k–250k13 grants · $1.4M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ALLEN'S FARM QUALITY MEATS | $150,000 |
| FULLER PARK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT | $150,000 |
| CENTRAL IL FARM FRESH ENTERPRISE DEV COOP | $148,000 |
| JO DAVIESS LOCAL FOODS | $140,000 |
| SOLA GRATIA FARM | $117,690 |
| DOWN AT THE FARMS LLC | $110,000 |
| DEMANGE FARMS | $106,000 |
| ST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH | $105,000 |
| URBAN GROWERS COLLECTIVE INC | $95,000 |
| LEAF FOOD HUB | $79,887 |
| FUNKS GROVE HERITAGE FRUITS & GRAIN | $72,124 |
| JUST ROOTS | $70,000 |
| TULIP TREE GARDENS CO | $59,900 |
| ILLINOIS COUNTRY HARVEST | $26,900 |
| GARLIC BREATH FARM | $17,599 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY24–24, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +175% since the first grant, against +146% for those funded once.
3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 21% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- DADown at the Farms LLC2× · 2020–2024 · $135k
- SGSOLA GRATIA FARM2× · 2020–2024 · $128k · revenue +175%
- LFLEAF FOOD HUB3× · 2020–2024 · $89k
Funded once
- IEILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $80k · revenue +158%
- TFTERRIPIN FARMSone grant, 2020 · $20k
- LJLUCY JILL RENDLEMAN ALL SEASON'S FARMone grant, 2020 · $11k
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.
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.
Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition's Guaranteed Green Sustainability Education Program educates foodservice operators about assessing the present state of their operation's environmental sustainability and helps them to develop a plan to…
Green city market is securing the future of food by deepening support for sustainable farmers, educating our community, and expanding access to locally-grown food.
Plant Chicago's mission is to cultivate local circular economies. We envision a paradigm shift in production, consumption, and waste driven at the local level, generating equity and economic opportunity for all residents.
The mission of heartlands conservancy is to empower and colaborate with the people of southern illinois to advance and protect the health of our distinctive communities and nationally significant natural and cultural resources.
The Organization facilitates and informs the development of and advocacy for responsible policies improving the food sovereignty of Chicago residents as they have power and control to determine culturally appropriate, nutritionally sound…
To develop knowledgeable and effective leaders to become policy and decision makers for the agricultural industry.
Friends of Sears Sunken Garden promotes and assists in the redesign, construction and maintenance of the historic Sears Sunken Garden located in the North Lawndale neighborhood of the City of Chicago for the use and enjoyment of the…
Sprout city farms collaborates with communities to pursue food justice by cultivating innovative, restorative, and educational farms. sprout city farms envisions a thriving and equitable food system supported by a network of farms and…
Teach people to grow food in responsible, sustainable ways while nurturing love and gratitude for the land and for each other. Programs are open to the public, free of charge. Food raised will be donated to food pantries.
At farmers rising, we lift up the people doing local and regenerative farming.
Educates stakeholders in illinois on environmental, economic, and social knowledge related to its grasslands.
How this is measured
10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 40 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Fuller Park Community Development Corp ↗
- Who funds SOLA GRATIA FARM ↗
- Who funds URBAN GROWERS COLLECTIVE INC ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION ↗
- Who funds JUST ROOTS JUST ROOTS CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Palomares Social Justice Center ↗
- Who funds STAR FARM CHICAGO ↗
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.
Open a dossier: The Experimental Station · Grand Victoria Foundation · The Lumpkin Family Foundation · Forefront · Builders Vision Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Illinois Stewardship Alliance funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Illinois Stewardship Alliance. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Illinois Stewardship Alliance’s filings →