Illinois · Nonprofit
ALTERNATIVES INC
ALTERNATIVES INC (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,367,637 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($2,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.7M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $6.4M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What Alternatives Inc does
Mission
Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. Serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and youth development services.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Restorative justice - alternative's programs build on youth's assets and are designed with input from the youth to build protective factors and reduce risk-factors associated with negative health outcomes for themselves and their peers. The programs offer youth a safe space for self-expression, discovery, skill-building, and leadership development and include girl world, career and employment services, urban arts, restorative justice, and youth empowerment program. These programs and services are highly collaborative, utilizing internal referrals and partnerships with other organizations to ensure youth receive all of the supports and resources they need to develop health and stability. Alternatives works with more than 3,000 youth.
$2,104,487 spent$108,684 earned by the program31% of program spendingClinical services - by combining behavioral health through clinical services with the positive skill-building programs provided by youth development programs, alternatives is able to engage youth in making healthy choices and developing healthy relationships; succeeding academically; building strong communication and conflict resolution skills while positioning them as leaders in their communities. Our clinical services department provides individual, group and family counseling, substance abuse counseling, and family intervention services.
$4,005,314 spent$206,851 earned by the program59% of program spendingSystems and training - our training team delivers comprehensive training and capacity-building technical assistance not only within chicago but also the state of illinois. Our trainings are perfect for adults working with young people, schools, and community-based organizations. We offer training in racial equity, trauma-informed care, restorative justice practices, and more.
$678,867 spent$35,060 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,788,668.
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 2023 to 2024, from $3.1M to $5.7M (+85%).
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 52% · 2018 67% · 2019 75% · 2020 72% · 2021 76% · 2022 81% · 2023 77% · 2024 71% · 2025 82%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of ALTERNATIVES INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Bessie L Alcantara
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $99k → $759k.
5 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ALTERNATIVES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 funders by total. 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
ALTERNATIVES INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
67% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ALTERNATIVES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 45% · 2019 32% · 2020 26% · 2021 28% · 2022 23% · 2023 25% — 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 ALTERNATIVES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
92% of ALTERNATIVES INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
ALTERNATIVES INC is better cushioned than half of the 5,002 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ALTERNATIVES INC
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
70% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ALTERNATIVES INC: 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 ALTERNATIVES INC?
- ALTERNATIVES INC (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,367,637 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($2,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ALTERNATIVES INC have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $6,367,637 in grants to ALTERNATIVES INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ALTERNATIVES INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ALTERNATIVES INC 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 Alternatives →
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 46 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing