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Illinois · Nonprofit

CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP

CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,619,339 to it, the largest being AARP FOUNDATION ($967,075). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$78M
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$2.6M
Net assets
$729k
3/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 2%
01What it does

What Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership does

Mission

The partnerships mission is to create, promote, and effectively manage a network of workforce development organizations that designs innovative solutions to address business needs and prepares individuals for, and connects them to, career opportunities.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. WIOA - The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act WIOA is a federal program that provides funding for workforce development initiatives, aiming to help job seekers find employment, education, training, and support services, while also matching employers with skilled workers. It aims to improve the public workforce system, help job seekers succeed in the labor market, and match employers with the skilled workers they need. Key Focus Areas include, Employment Helping individuals find and retain jobs. Education and Training Providing access to education, training, and skill development opportunities. Support Services Offering assistance with things like childcare, transportation, and other needs that can hinder employment.

    $63,774,783 spentof which $53,459,063 as grants
    80% of program spending
  2. Sector Initiatives - Construction Works Powered by Illinois Tollway The Construction Works is an innovative program that assists men and women in entering careers in the heavy highway and related construction industry. The program creates a pool of diversified candidates ready to work, linking them to hiring construction contractors.

    $4,924,337 spentof which $4,758,941 as grants
    6% of program spending
  3. Special Populations - Community Health Response Corps COVID-19 Response, Public Health Call Center, Resources and Referrals, Career Pathway to Community HealthPublic Health Workers, Funded 10-15 CBOs by hiring over 100 CHRC through an on-the-job model to support underserved and underrepresented communities with public health needs including resources and referral to housing, childcare, workforce development, food assistance. Formerly the COVID-19 Response Corps with a total of over 1000 staff responding to the COVID-19 needs of the city through public health education, vaccinations scheduling, and resources. Good Jobs Challenge An employer-led initiative to skill and reskill in key sectors, offering employers ongoing opportunities to enhance workforce skill, to train and hire workers within in-demand skills that will lead to good-paying jobs and drive growth in the following industries TDL, Healthcare, Manufacturing, IT.ARPA - American Rescue Plan Act Cook CountyNationwide rescue plan to accelarate the nations recovery from the economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, provided direct relief to households, small business, and industries, and support essential…

    $11,122,431 spentof which $9,073,614 as grants
    14% of program spending
  4. Program Service Expenses 8,215, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 SEE SCHEDULE O

    $8,215 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $79,829,766.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($51M) Expenses 100 ($54M) Net assets 100 ($8.7M)2018 Revenue 108 ($54M) Expenses 110 ($59M) Net assets 49 ($4.2M)2019 Revenue 117 ($59M) Expenses 113 ($61M) Net assets 36 ($3.1M)2020 Revenue 113 ($57M) Expenses 109 ($59M) Net assets 28 ($2.4M)2021 Revenue 164 ($83M) Expenses 155 ($83M) Net assets 26 ($2.2M)2022 Revenue 176 ($89M) Expenses 166 ($89M) Net assets 28 ($2.4M)2023 Revenue 162 ($82M) Expenses 151 ($81M) Net assets 40 ($3.4M)2024 Revenue 158 ($80M) Expenses 151 ($81M) Net assets 33 ($2.8M)2025 Revenue 153 ($78M) Expenses 149 ($80M) Net assets 8 ($729k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (153)Expenses (149)Net assets (8)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 2020 to 2021, from $14M to $32M (+126%).

$20M
$13M
$15M
$14M
$32M
$32M
$30M
$25M
$23M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 98% · 2018 96% · 2019 97% · 2020 100% · 2021 93% · 2022 97% · 2023 94% · 2024 98% · 2025 96%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,251 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$3.1M
’17
−$4.8M
’18
−$1.5M
’19
−$1.4M
’20
−$183k
’21
$332k
’22
$1.0M
’23
−$888k
’24
−$2.2M
’25
0.9
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

Wright George

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed403847442122303325
Joined·+0+9+7+9+13+10+12+2
No longer listed·201032122910
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $1.0M → $60k.

Left out of every figure on this page: $1.5M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP raised.

From the IRS filings of CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP’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

CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

66% 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 CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP.

37%
largest funder
71%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 62% · 2019 89% · 2020 50% · 2021 90% · 2022 55% · 2023 100% — 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

0% of CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 25% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 7 states in all.

IL
WI
NY
NJ
MD
NC
DC

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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

CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP's revenue grew 53% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−3% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.9mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Government funding CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $18.5M on record.

Federal$18.5M
grants $18.5Mcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Commerce$18.5M

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 CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP

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

100% of spending goes to programs.

Program 100%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

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 CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP: 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 CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP?
CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,619,339 to it, the largest being AARP FOUNDATION ($967,075). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $2,619,339 in grants to CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP?
AARP FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $967,075 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHICAGO COOK WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 12 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