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Illinois · Nonprofit

CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY

CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $242,316 to it, the largest being CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION ($183,176). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$107k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$242k
Net assets
$466k
3/4 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Chicago Fire Department Gold Badge Society does

Mission

Our purpose for existing is to offer support and comfort to any and all who might benefit from our experiences, especially any future duty-death families.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Scholarship fund: 16 scholarships $5,000 awarded in 2025 to qualified, active, disabled, retired, or deceased firefighters and or paramedics from the chicago fire department.scholarship fund 2 scholarships $2,500 awarded in 2025 to qualified, active, disabled, retired or deceased firefighters and/or paramedics from the chicago fire department

    $85,000 spentof which $85,000 as grants
    72% of program spending
  2. Miscellaneous other grants in 2025

    $19,851 spentof which $19,851 as grants
    17% of program spending
  3. Memorials $8,115

    $8,115 spentof which $8,115 as grants
    7% of program spending
  4. General operating expenses

    $5,639 spent
    5% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $118,605.

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 ($68k) Expenses 100 ($54k) Net assets 100 ($185k)2018 Revenue 134 ($91k) Expenses 108 ($59k) Net assets 117 ($217k)2019 Revenue 96 ($65k) Expenses 113 ($61k) Net assets 119 ($221k)2020 Revenue 65 ($44k) Expenses 126 ($69k) Net assets 106 ($196k)2022 Revenue 96 ($65k) Expenses 141 ($77k) Net assets 110 ($203k)2023 Revenue 61 ($42k) Expenses 110 ($60k) Net assets 100 ($185k)2024 Revenue 578 ($391k) Expenses 177 ($96k) Net assets 259 ($480k)2025 Revenue 158 ($107k) Expenses 222 ($121k) Net assets 252 ($466k)
'17'18'19'20'22'23'24'25
Revenue (158)Expenses (222)Net assets (252)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 2023 to 2024, from $185k to $480k (+160%).

$185k
$217k
$221k
$196k
$203k
$185k
$480k
$466k
'17'18'19'20'22'23'24'25
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
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (91% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 23,870 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$13k
’17
$32k
’18
$4k
’19
−$25k
’20
−$12k
’22
−$19k
’23
$295k
’24
−$14k
’25
46
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.

20242025
Listed44
Joined·+0
No longer listed·0
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $11k → $10k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
Ignite the Spiritunclassified
$33k
funders
1
3
2
2
2
1
2
1
1

2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 GOLD BADGE SOCIETY’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 GOLD BADGE SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

100% 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 GOLD BADGE SOCIETY.

76%
largest funder
99%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 47% · 2019 82% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 100% · 2023 97% — 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.

Where its funders are

100% of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26k 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

CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve46.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)6% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY

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

98% of spending goes to programs.

Program 98%Management 2%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
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 FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY: 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.

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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 GOLD BADGE SOCIETY?
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $242,316 to it, the largest being CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION ($183,176). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $242,316 in grants to CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY?
CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $183,176 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT GOLD BADGE SOCIETY 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 4 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