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Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Community foundation

Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust

To create an opportunity for donors to participate in scholarships and projects that improve the quality of life within our local communities.

$370k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$34k
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, FY2018 to 2024.

Human Services$253kArts & Culture$240kPhilanthropy$110kHealth$39kEducation$20kFood & Nutrition$15k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $111,067, the rows itemized in this filing. The $370,367 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $259,300 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 $10k2 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $98k
$12,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$3.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STERLING ROCK FALLS FAMILY YMCA$33,750
UNITED WAY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY$20,000
CGH HEALTH FOUNDATION$19,500
STERLING-ROCK FALLS CHILD CARE$12,500
LSSI$12,500
STERLING RIVERFRONT FOUNDATION$7,500
STERLING-RF HISTORICAL SOCIETY$5,317
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 (FY24–25, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%STERLING-ROCK FALLS CHILD CARE: $13k → 13%STERLING-ROCK FALLS CHILD CARE: $13k → 13%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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$728k · 7 repeat orgs$60k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue 0% since the first grant, against -21% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
5

Total granted

$728k
$52k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
-21%

Still filing today

100%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyFood & NutritionHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • WA
    WOODLAWN ARTS ACADEMY
    3× · 2018–2024 · $208k · revenue +49%
  • CH
    CGH Health Foundation
    3× · 2023–2025 · $59k · revenue +20%
  • LS
    LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS
    4× · 2022–2025 · $44k · revenue +32%

Funded once

  • WC
    WHITESIDE COUNTY SENIOR CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $18k · revenue -21%
  • SV
    Sauk Valley Foodbankgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +33%
  • CO
    CITY OF STERLING
    one grant, 2020 · $8k
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
Southern Illinois Community Foundation

To foster and encourage private philanthropic giving to improve communities of the Southern Illinois Region by connecting charitable donors with worthy causes and to build endowment funds that will support those worthy causes in perpetuity.

Philanthropy
2
Sterling Area Health Center

Combining leadership and teamwork to provide caring, high quality, efficient, and affordable primary health care for all segments of the community.

Health
3
Swedish Historical Society of Rockford

Preservation of swedish historical structure, culture and artifacts through the operations of a museum and cultural center.

Arts & Culture
4
Starved Rock Country Community Foundation

The Starved Rock Country Community Foundation (SRCCF) is a grant-making public charity dedicated to improving the lives of people in LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam Counties. Our goal is to bring together the financial resources of individuals,…

Philanthropy
5
Woodstock Christian Life Services

To provide healthcare services in a nursing home facility, housing for the elderly, and daycare services for children

Human Services
6
Siouxland Community Foundation

The siouxland community foundation is a trusted organization that connects people who care with causes that matter by providing a means to receive gifts and distribute grants in response to community needs.

Philanthropy
7
North Shore Health Care Foundation

To expand equitable health care and healthy living in Cook County and champion solutions through funding, education and advocacy.

Health
8
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Inc

To provide access to high quality, comprehensive, primary healthcare in cook county to all users, regardless of financial ability to pay for service.

Health
9
Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust

To create an opportunity for donors to participate in scholarships and projects that improve the quality of life within our local communities.

—
10
Senior Services Center of Will County

To enhance the quality of life of the older person, support theirindependence, encourage their involvement in the community, provide analternative to loneliness and isolation and provide a community focalpoint where older persons come…

—
11
Steuben County Community Foundation

The steuben county community foundation improves the quality of life in steuben county by connecting people who care with needs that matter to the community through endowment fund building and grantmaking

Philanthropy
12
Walworth-Seely Public Library

The mission of the Walworth-Seely Public Library is to build community by engaging, educating and enriching the lives of our patrons.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lutheran Social Services of Illinois; the most unlike its peers is Literacy Is Fun for Everyone Inc. 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

12 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. 12 of the 13 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
4/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STERLING-ROCK FALLS FAMILY YMCA: $225,750 · OtherSTERLING-ROCK FALLS FAMILY YMCACGH Health Foundation: $58,500 · OtherCGH Health FoundationLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS: $43,750 · OtherLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOISSTERLING-ROCK FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $37,081 · OtherSTERLING-ROCK FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETYWHITESIDE COUNTY SENIOR CENTER: $17,500 · Other+2 more: $14,125 · OtherWOODLAWN ARTS ACADEMY: $207,937 · Arts & CultureWOODLAWN ARTS ACADEMYUNITED WAY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY: $130,125 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF WHIT…STERLING ROCK FALLS DAY CARE AGENCY INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesSauk Valley Foodbank: $15,000 · Food & NutritionSTERLING RIVERFRONT FOUNDATION: $7,500 · Community ImprovementLITERACY IS FUN FOR EVERYONE INC: $5,500 · Education
Other$396,706Arts & Culture$207,937Philanthropy$130,125Human Services$25,000Food & Nutrition$15,000Community Improvement$7,500Education$5,500

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 budgetSTERLING-ROCK FALLS FAMILY YMCA: $225,750 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetWOODLAWN ARTS ACADEMY: $207,937 over 3y, 19% of budgetUNITED WAY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY: $130,125 over 6y, 5.4% of budgetCGH Health Foundation: $58,500 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS: $43,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSTERLING-ROCK FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $37,081 over 6y, 13% of budgetSTERLING ROCK FALLS DAY CARE AGENCY INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetWHITESIDE COUNTY SENIOR CENTER: $17,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSauk Valley Foodbank: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSAUK VALLEY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $6,625 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLITERACY IS FUN FOR EVERYONE INC: $5,500 over 1y, 7.5% 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.

Dillon FoundationUnited Way of Whitesi…Quad Cities Community…Do It Best Foundation…Kunes Family Foundati…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Dillon FoundationIL20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dillon Foundation · United Way of Whiteside County · Quad Cities Community Foundation · Do It Best Foundation Inc · Kunes Family Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Sterling Rock Falls Community Trust 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 13 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

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
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    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