Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $703,953 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($225,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $351k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $704k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Chicago Fire Department Foundation does
Mission
The cfd foundation supports the critical lifesaving work of the chicago fire department. See schedule o.the foundation will work collaboratively with the fire department and its members to support its most crucial priorities; to reduce firefighter, paramedic, and civilian deaths and injury. The foundation will support cfd initiatives for education, fire prevention, training and equipment needs that are not funded through city, state or federal budgets. The foundation will assist the firefighters/paramedics and their families in time of need.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Fire safety education - provides programs/funding to the cfd to educate, inform and involve the public in protecting life and property in the event of emergency. The foundation, through the state-of-the-art virtual reality education program, provides chicago area public and private schools students with fire safety education and safety. In 2025 hundreds of school age children in chicago completed the virtual reality safety and education program.
$33,271 spent14% of program spendingLodd and heroes program - assists the families of firefighters and paramedics in times of need. Lodd and heroes programs provide burial assistance, pipes and drums for funeral processions, and scholarship funds to the children of fallen heroes. During 2025, the foundation provided support to one (1) line of duty death, five (5) active members active members who passed away, and five (5) members who are battling serious injuries and illness. We provided back-to-school scholarships for 28 families and 49 children of line of duty deaths and provided eight (8) scholarships supporting the gold badge society.
$109,924 spentof which $109,500 as grants47% of program spendingAdvocacy and donations - the program provided fire and co alarms to low-income families, and donations to charities that provide services and support to the chicago fire department. Approximately 3,500 00 fire and co alarms were distributed to low-income families through 4 food pantries and senior citizen centers across chicago neighborhoods. The advocacy program also provided 6 scholarships to graduates from the chicago police fire training academy (cpfta), funding for the chicago fire department pipes and drums, supported the annual memorial day parade and mass, and celebrated first respondents by providing 800 "grab and go lunches" to chicago firefighters and paramedics.
$85,424 spentof which $9,500 as grants37% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$3,534 spentof which $3,534 as grants2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $232,153.
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 2019 to 2020, from $475k to $1.0M (+119%).
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.
123% of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (75% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $45k → $57k.
3 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION’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 FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
43% 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 FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 56% · 2019 27% · 2020 51% · 2021 48% · 2022 20% · 2023 59% — 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
75% of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
88% of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $215k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,014 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,014 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION: 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 CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION?
- CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $703,953 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($225,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $703,953 in grants to CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION?
- PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION 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 22 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