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United Working Families at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

United Working Families

To advance the interests of the working class, middle class and poor americans, through legislative advocacy, public education, creative media and community organizing.

$74k
Granted FY2023
5
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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, FY2021 to 2023.

Civil Rights$157kEmployment$144kCommunity Improvement$33kPublic Benefit$32kReligion$24k
02FY2023 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $43,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $74,195 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $31,195 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 · FY2023

  • Under $10k4 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $13k
$7,500
Median grant
1
States reached
$531k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GRASSROOTS ILLINOIS ACTION$13,000
JCUA VOTES$7,500
THE PEOPLES LOBBY$7,500
WORKERS CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE$7,500
ONE PEOPLES CAMPAIGN$7,500
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 (FY21–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%WORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION: $67k → 20%GRASSROOTS ILLINOIS ACTION: $44k → 14%WFP NATIONAL PAC: $50k → 20%GRASSROOTS ILLINOIS ACTION: $13k → 14%ONE PEOPLES CAMPAIGN: $8k → 14%COOK COUNTY COLLEGE TEACHERS UNION COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION: $24k → 14%JCUA VOTES: $8k → 14%THE PEOPLES LOBBY: $8k → 14%WORKERS CENTER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE: $8k → 14%SOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION: $25k → 14%CHICAGO WORKERS CCOLLABORATIVE: $44k → 14%WAREHOUSE WORKERS FOR JUSTICE: $44k → 14%FRIENDS OF ALMA ANAYA: $24k → 14%BRIGHTON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: $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.
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 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
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
2
Working Family Solidarity

Working Family Solidarity builds unity between low and moderate-income families of different backgrounds, especially African American and Latino, to struggle together for equitable development. We fight for racial equity and economic…

Employment
3
Fair Work Center

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

Employment
4
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
5
Latino Union of Chicago

Latino Union works to defend the rights and dignity of contingent workers, including the right to immigrate, work, live free of oppression and violence, and provide for oneself and one's family.

Human Services
6
Central Ohio Workers Center Inc

The Central Ohio Worker Center is a non-profit organization that educates, empowers, and advocates for and with low-wage and immigrant workers in Central Ohio.

Civil Rights
7
Chicago Jobs With Justice

The mission of Chicago Jobs with Justice is to build a strong and progressive labor movement that works in coalition with student, faith and community organizations to win important campaigns for workers' rights and social and economic…

Civil Rights
8
Working Washington

We are workers, united across different industries to improve our working conditions and our lives. We come together as working people to build power through education, organizing, and enforcement. We work to raise and uphold standards in…

—
9
Interfaith Worker Justice

To advance the rights of workers by engaging diverse faith communities into action, from grassroots organizing to shaping policy at the local, state and national levels. They envision a nation where all workers enjoy the rights to:…

Religion
10
Fuerza LaboralPower of Workers

Fuerza Laboral is a workers' rights center whose mission is to shift the balance of power in our economy in favor of workers by educating, training, and organizing workers to become community leaders; taking direct action to recover unpaid…

Education
11
Live Free Chicago

Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…

—
12
Chicago Jobs Council

Chicago Jobs Council (CJC) pursues its mission through advocacy, applied research, public education and capacity-building initiatives focused on influencing the development or reform of public policies and programs. From 18 original…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Workers' Collaborative Nfp; the most unlike its peers is Warehouse Workers Justice Center 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

9 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. 9 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
9/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY NATIONAL PAC: $50,000 · OtherWORKING FAMILIES PARTY NATIONAL …COOK COUNTY COLLEGE TEACHERS UNION COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION: $24,000 · OtherCOOK COUNTY COLLEGE TEACHERS UNI…FRIENDS OF ALMA ANAYA: $24,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF ALMA ANAYAONE PEOPLES PROJECT: $7,500 · OtherONE PEOPLES PROJECTTHE PEOPLE'S LOBBY: $7,500 · OtherTHE PEOPLE'S LOBBYWORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC: $67,000 · Civil RightsWORKING FAMILIES ORGA…Workers Center For Racial Just NFP: $7,500 · Civil RightsWorkers Center For Ra…Grassroots Illinois Action: $56,750 · EmploymentGrassroots Illin…Chicago Workers' Collaborative NFP: $43,750 · EducationChicago Work…Warehouse Workers Justice Center Inc: $43,750 · Crime & LegalWarehouse Wo…BRIGHTON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: $25,000 · Community ImprovementBRIGHTON …Jewish Council on Urban Affairs: $7,500 · Community ImprovementJewish Co…SOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION: $25,000 · Philanthropy
Other$113,000Civil Rights$74,500Employment$56,750Education$43,750Crime & Legal$43,750Community Improvement$32,500Philanthropy$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORKING FAMILIES ORGANIZATION INC: $67,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGrassroots Illinois Action: $56,750 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetChicago Workers' Collaborative NFP: $43,750 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetWarehouse Workers Justice Center Inc: $43,750 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetSOUTHSIDERS ORGANIZED FOR UNITY AND LIBERATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetBRIGHTON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWorkers Center For Racial Just NFP: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJewish Council on Urban Affairs: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE PEOPLE'S LOBBY: $7,500 over 1y, 1.5% 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.

Field Foundation of I…Woods Fund of ChicagoThe Chicago Community…Solidago FoundationForefrontPolk Bros Foundation …Proteus Fund IncAmalgamated Charitabl…Tides FoundationFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Field Foundation of IllinoisIL17.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Field Foundation of Illinois · Woods Fund of Chicago · The Chicago Community Trust · Solidago Foundation · Forefront · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Proteus Fund Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides 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 United Working Families funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from United Working Families. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%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 · 0–10%
    typical government reliance, FY20–24
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to United Working Families?

    Find your warmest path to United Working Families 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $2k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

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