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Funding · Illinois · Arts and culture

Who funds arts and culture in Illinois

Arts and culture funding in Illinois is unusually spread out: no single organization draws even 12%, though The Art Institute of Chicago leads, and the money reaches 2,014 groups.

$2.3B
granted
2,014
organizations
55%
from in-state

The short version

Largest funders of arts and culture in Illinois

The funders giving the most to arts and culture organizations in Illinois, in-state and out. Pick one for its dossier.

1The Chicago Community Trust$184M2Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund$165M3National Philanthropic Trust$90M4The Negaunee Foundation$66M5Corporation for Public Broadcasting$60M6The Andrew W Mellon Foundation$58M7Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc$57M8John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation$55M9Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc$42M10Silicon Valley Community Foundation$38M

Arts and culture organizations in Illinois that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

2,004 other arts and culture organizations$1.3B
The Art Institute of Chicago$205MField Museum of Natural History$136MChicago Symphony Orchestra$104MThe Barack Obama Foundation$85MLyric Opera of Chicago$84MUnited States Artists Inc$66MChicago Public Media Inc$63M

How to find arts and culture funders in Illinois

  1. 1
    Start with the funders already active in Illinois

    The funders giving the most to arts and culture in Illinois are The Chicago Community Trust, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, National Philanthropic Trust. A funder already writing arts and culture checks in your state is the warmest place to begin.

  2. 2
    See who funds organizations like yours

    Open the arts and culture organizations on this page that resemble yours in size or work, and look at who funds them. Shared funders are the strongest signal of fit.

  3. 3
    Add the out-of-state funders reaching in

    45% of arts and culture money in Illinois comes from funders elsewhere, so national arts and culture funders are worth approaching even if they are not based in Illinois.

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a arts and culture nonprofit in Illinois?
Start with the funders already giving to arts and culture in Illinois, currently The Chicago Community Trust, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, National Philanthropic Trust. Then look at who funds the arts and culture organizations on this page that resemble yours, and add the national funders reaching into Illinois from out of state.
Who is the largest arts and culture funder in Illinois?
The Chicago Community Trust gives the most to arts and culture organizations in Illinois, $184M across the 2022 and 2023 filings.
How much grant money goes to arts and culture in Illinois?
$2.3B reached 2,014 arts and culture organizations in Illinois, from 3,977 funders. 55% came from funders also based in Illinois.
How recent is this data?
It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the two years with complete coverage. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines
Giving abroad
which US foundations fund each country

Each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear; location is the recipient's state on its most recent filing. Grant figures are read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, among recipients resolved by EIN. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.