· Public charity
Openlands
OPENLANDS protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern illinois and the surrounding region to ensure cleaner air and water, protect natural habitats and wildlife, and help balance and enrich our lives.OPENLANDS' vision for the region is a landscape that includes a vast network of land and water trails, tree-lined streets, and…
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k4 grants · $30k
- $10k–50k16 grants · $160k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $56k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE | $56,474 |
| VILLAGE OF FRANKLIN PARK | $10,000 |
| FOREST PRESERVE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| FOREST PRESERVES OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY | $10,000 |
| VILLAGE OF PORT BARRINGTON | $10,000 |
| BEE HAVEN | $10,000 |
| LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION | $10,000 |
| NILES TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT | $10,000 |
| VILLAGE OF SOUTH HOLLAND | $10,000 |
| VILLAGE OF BOLINGBROOK | $10,000 |
| HISTORY CENTER OF LAKE FOREST LAKE BLUFF | $10,000 |
| CITY OF PROSPECT HEIGHTS | $10,000 |
| FOX VALLEY PARK DISTRICT | $10,000 |
| RIVERDALE PARK DISTRICT | $10,000 |
| THE FORGE CHARITABLE ADVENTURES NFP | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 32% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 47% of Openlands’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 52%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
16 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 16 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, 37% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $154k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- HSHealthy Schools Campaign5× · 2017–2023 · $281k · revenue -4%
- SCSIERRA CLUB4× · 2017–2021 · $80k · revenue -41%
- TWTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE2× · 2023–2024 · $66k · revenue +75%
Funded once
- LCLALE COUNTY FOREST PRESERVEone grant, 2023 · $1.4M
- KIKleo Inc dba ClassWalletone grant, 2023 · $15k
- IAIllinois Arborist Association Incgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $12k · revenue +64%
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.
To restore, preserve, and protect natural areas in illinois by acquiring land containing significant natural communities and to provide stewardship to restore and maintain the native ecosystems in these areas.
Glacial Lakes Conservancy, as a land trust, is a nonprofit organization that, as part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisitions.
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…
Our mission is conserving West Michigans ecologically critical land. We protect land by creating public nature preserves, providing support to communities and local governments in creating natural areas, and helping private landowners…
To protect and restore the ecological health of forest park and marquam nature park, maintain and enhance their extensive trails networks, promote equitable access, and inspire diverse community appreciation and stewardship of these iconic…
The primary program of the lincoln park conservancy is to grow a sustainable organic garden.
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.
To promote the perpetuation and appreciation of native flora and fauna of illinois and the habitats that support them.
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 the lincoln park conservancy is to preserve and enhance the inspiring beauty of chicago's largest and most visited park for current and future generations. we believe that beauty matters. that it has the transformative power…
Advance science-informed analysis and policy solutions that address wisconsin's greatest conservation challenges.
To preserve and restore natural communities in east central illinois, to create interconnected corridors, to provide wildlife habitat, and connect people and nature for future generations.
How this is measured
31 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. 31 of the 132 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 Healthy Schools Campaign ↗
- Who funds SIERRA CLUB ↗
- Who funds THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE ↗
- Who funds FARM FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Illinois Arborist Association Inc ↗
- Who funds STAR FARM CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds CITIZENS FOR CONSERVATION INC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ST FRANCIS ↗
- Who funds Forest Preserve Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds KANE FOREST PRESERVE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds KANE COUNTY FARM BUREAU ↗
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 Morton Arboretum · Metropolitan Mayors Caucus · Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation · The Lumpkin Family Foundation · Forefront · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · Walder Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Oberweiler Foundation · Harold M & Adeline S Morrison Family Foundation · Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp · The Chicago Community Trust
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Openlands funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Openlands. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Openlands’ filings →