Illinois · Nonprofit
UNITING VOICES
UNITING VOICES (Illinois) receives grants from 108 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,495,004 to it, the largest being POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION ($4,000,000). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.2M
- Funders on record
- 108
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Uniting Voices does
Mission
To inspire and change lives through music.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2023 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
In october 2023, the organization launched its first program outside of chicago, in lexington, kentucky. This after-school program serves youth ages 12 to 18 across the city of lexington and the wider bluegrass region. The program showcases young people as ambassadors of the community and leaders on the global stage.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The neighborhood choir program provides after-school, culturally responsive music education to students ages 6-18 in 12 communities. These singers meaningfully connect with peers across the city and beyond, learn music and movement from many genres and cultures, engage in dialogue about the historical and social context of music and participate in professional-level performance opportunities.
$1,782,360 spentof which $44,108 as grants$753,048 earned by the program43% of program spendingThe school program provides culturally responsive music education to students ages 8-14 within their own school. These singers learn vocal music and movement from many genres and cultures, basic musicianship and performance skills and have the opportunity to participate in city-wide, professional-level performance opportunities.
$1,256,046 spent$375,742 earned by the program31% of program spendingVoice of chicago is Uniting Voices' premier ensemble, comprised of singers ages 14-18 who reflect the city's rich cultural diversity. Voice of chicago singers receive 5-12 hours of instruction weekly, and have opportunities to connect with peers they may not otherwise meet, collaborate with world-class artists, participate in high profile performances, tour nationally and internationally and build leadership skills for the future.
$1,009,491 spentof which $52,300 as grants$441,620 earned by the program25% of program spendingThe Uniting Voices lexington program provides after-school, performance-based learning built around innovative creative partnerships and compelling artistic endeavors. Uniting Voices lexington develops programs that intentionally embrace the diversity of the bluegrass region, making a high caliber music education available to any singer who wants it.
$67,079 spent$26,953 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,114,976.
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 $7.2M to $12M (+67%).
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 0% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 28% · 2022 16% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of UNITING VOICES’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% 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
Ellen-Blair Chube
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $918k → $5.1M.
18 of 108 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 UNITING VOICES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 108 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
UNITING VOICES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 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 UNITING VOICES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 13% · 2019 16% · 2020 17% · 2021 13% · 2022 17% · 2023 78% — growing more concentrated.
“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
47% of UNITING VOICES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
UNITING VOICES draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
UNITING VOICES runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding UNITING VOICES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $300k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$300k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like UNITING VOICES
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNITING VOICES: 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 UNITING VOICES?
- UNITING VOICES (Illinois) receives grants from 108 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,495,004 to it, the largest being POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION ($4,000,000). 68 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITING VOICES have?
- IRS filings report 108 organizations giving $13,495,004 in grants to UNITING VOICES, 68 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITING VOICES?
- POPPLESTONE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITING VOICES 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 Uniting Voices →
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 108 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