Illinois · Nonprofit
Big Shoulders Fund
Big Shoulders Fund (Illinois) receives grants from 261 organizations whose IRS filings report $111,177,332 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,819,801). 162 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $53M
- Funders on record
- 261
- Grants received
- $111M
- Net assets
- $129M
What Big Shoulders Fund does
Mission
We provide support to underserved schools which provide a quality, values-based education for Chicago's children. In 2020, Big Shoulders Fund's programming was extended to the Northwest Indiana region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
School operations: distributed operating and capital grants to multiple schools in an effort to prevent school closures; also assisted schools in improving marketing/recruiting, building new external funding sources, improving school business operations, etc.
$24,074,917 spentof which $22,141,857 as grants47% of program spendingStudent scholarship programs: administered over90 distinct scholarship programs that include mentoring, enrichment and other support activities. 5,267 scholarships were awarded to 5,080 students at 120 elementary and high schools to enable them to attend non-public schools.
$13,580,195 spentof which $12,463,115 as grants26% of program spendingAcademic enrichment and leadership development: big shoulders administers over 25 ongoing programs in 90 schools involving over 800 teachers and administrators to improve instruction and learning through leadership and professional development, professional learning communities and access to high quality curricula with focus on math, science, civics, and literacy. Provide a variety of other needed capital and programmatic support to ensure a safe, effective learning environment for nearly 25,000 students through ongoing enrichment programs including a science and leadership camp, afterschool programs, summer programs, and other opportunities for students.
$12,158,860 spentof which $6,136,650 as grants24% of program spendingOther program services: general academic enrichment activities for students, such as outdoor education, learning about investments and the stock market. Support for schools holding fund-raising events. Supporting volunteer school cleanup and maintenance activities. Grants to schools as designated by donors - agency (pass-through) transactions. In addition, Big Shoulders Fund provides support to students, teachers, and adminstrators at catholic schools primarily serving low-income students in northwest indiana through a restricted grant. Southeast side experience incubator (ssei) provides students at st. Francis de sales high school with valuable life and work experiences in a professional setting utilizing a work study program. Students' academic schedules are modified so that four students share one full-time entry-level job. Work study hours provide students with an enriched learning experience and is certified by the us department of labor.
$1,851,647 spentof which $1,088,880 as grants$130,909 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $51,665,619.
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.
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 $91M to $111M (+21%).
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: 2019 0% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 3% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of Big Shoulders Fund’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Joshua Hale
President and Chief Executive Officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 127 funders, grant income rose $4.7M → $17M.
26 of 261 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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: $9.5M from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money Big Shoulders Fund raised.
From the IRS filings of Big Shoulders Fund’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 261 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
Big Shoulders Fund has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
37% 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 Big Shoulders Fund.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 19% · 2019 19% · 2020 14% · 2021 12% · 2022 24% · 2023 16% — 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
50% of Big Shoulders Fund's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
59% of Big Shoulders Fund's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
Big Shoulders Fund has grown faster than half of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Big Shoulders Fund
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Southeast Side Experience Incubator L3c · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Big Shoulders Fund: 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 Big Shoulders Fund?
- Big Shoulders Fund (Illinois) receives grants from 261 organizations whose IRS filings report $111,177,332 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,819,801). 162 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Big Shoulders Fund have?
- IRS filings report 261 organizations giving $111,177,332 in grants to Big Shoulders Fund, 162 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Big Shoulders Fund?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $15,819,801 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Big Shoulders Fund 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.
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 261 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