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Illinois · Nonprofit

ANSWER INC

ANSWER INC (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $468,163 to it, the largest being THE HOPE SCHOOL ($335,270). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$840k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$468k
Net assets
$419k
2/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 28%
01What it does

What Answer Inc does

Mission

Provide support, resources, education and advocacy for families impacted by autism and developmental disorders.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Provide support, resources, education and advocacy for families impacted by autism and developmental disorders.

    $621,908 spent$840,181 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $621,908.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($134k) Expenses 100 ($117k) Net assets 100 ($43k)2022 Revenue 286 ($382k) Expenses 260 ($303k) Net assets 507 ($216k)2023 Revenue 542 ($724k) Expenses 494 ($576k) Net assets 960 ($409k)2024 Revenue 820 ($1.1M) Expenses 1030 ($1.2M) Net assets 712 ($303k)2025 Revenue 628 ($840k) Expenses 641 ($748k) Net assets 986 ($419k)
20182022202320242025
Revenue (628)Expenses (641)Net assets (986)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $216k to $417k (+93%).

$43k
$216k
$417k
$352k
$456k
20182022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 40% · 2023 35% · 2024 79% · 2025 71%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of ANSWER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,387 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$17k
’18
$79k
’22
$148k
’23
−$106k
’24
$92k
’25
6.3
months of
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

Debra Vines

Founder/CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20182022202320242025
Listed66776
Joined··+7+0+2
No longer listed··603
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $38k → $90k.

4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 ANSWER INC’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

ANSWER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

86% 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 ANSWER INC.

72%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2021 85% · 2022 55% · 2023 66% — 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

0% of ANSWER INC's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 18% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y

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

93% of ANSWER INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
CA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $66k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

ANSWER INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,482 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin11% · above the median
Months of reserve6.3mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)30% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like ANSWER 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 14%Fundraising 3%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

88%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ANSWER 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 ANSWER INC?
ANSWER INC (Illinois) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $468,163 to it, the largest being THE HOPE SCHOOL ($335,270). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ANSWER INC have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $468,163 in grants to ANSWER INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ANSWER INC?
THE HOPE SCHOOL is the largest funder on record, with $335,270 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ANSWER 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 Answer →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 11 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