Illinois · Nonprofit
Alain Locke Charter School
Alain Locke Charter School (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,521,439 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($1,050,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.2M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $3.6M
What Alain Locke Charter School does
Mission
Alain Locke Charter School serves as a demonstration for urban schools exemplifying excellence in academics, the arts, personal and social development, and preparing students who are globally competitive. One of Chicago's first public, open enrollment charter schools, Alain Locke Charter School is one of the most successful urban charter schools in the United States. Located in the heart of Chicago's West Side, Alain Locke Charter School serves students in grades Pre-K through 8. The Charter School is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accelerate Institute.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Alain Locke Charter School (alain locke), named for the first african-american rhodes scholar, models absolute excellence in chicago's historically under served east garfield park neighborhood. With a learner-centered approach and a focus on preparing students for a successful college experience, the goal of alain locke is to serve as a model for innovative urban education and to produce students who are globally competitive. Offering an extended day and year-round program, alain locke provides elementary education for children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Located in east garfield park on chicago's west side, the students are primarily african-american. At alain locke, more than 90% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Alain locke places emphasis on character education, along with a positive, disciplined, and nurturing school culture, and support for students in establishing patterns of success and becoming lifelong learners. Talented and dedicated educators are drawn to alain locke because of its commitment to providing quality professional development, as well as opportunities for leadership and to work collaboratively with colleagues.
$7,294,281 spentof which $23,500 as grants$4,321 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,294,281.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $3.2M to $5.5M (+73%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 85% · 2018 84% · 2019 90% · 2020 91% · 2021 95% · 2022 93% · 2023 89% · 2024 91% · 2025 90%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of Alain Locke Charter School’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Catherine Burns
Chair / Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $11k → $360k.
3 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $181k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Accelerate Institute). These are real filings, and they are not money Alain Locke Charter School raised.
From the IRS filings of Alain Locke Charter School’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Alain Locke Charter School leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 95% · 2018 93% · 2019 67% · 2020 69% · 2021 72% · 2022 74% · 2023 83% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
40% of Alain Locke Charter School's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
100% of Alain Locke Charter School's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Alain Locke Charter School is better cushioned than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Alain Locke Charter School
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Accelerate Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Alain Locke Charter School: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Alain Locke Charter School?
- Alain Locke Charter School (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,521,439 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($1,050,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Alain Locke Charter School have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $1,521,439 in grants to Alain Locke Charter School, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Alain Locke Charter School?
- PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,050,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Alain Locke Charter School find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Alain Locke Charter School →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 14 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing