Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES
CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,173 to it, the largest being NATIONAL INDUSTRIES FOR THE BLIND ($120,653). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $121k
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Chicago Lighthouse Industries does
Mission
Chicago Lighthouse Industries is organized to create opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired, specifically through providing employment possibilities, which foster independence.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Chicago Lighthouse Industries manufacturing program provides rehabilitation, training and employment for people who are blind or visually impaired. Workers perform various packaging and assembly roles, in the manufacturing of both planners and clocks for the federal government and other commercial markets. The workers assemble and package footrests, backrests and monitor arms, and package cooking thermometers and lens cleaning products for the federal market, as well. During fy25, 42 people with visual and other disabilities were provided employment
$2,423,579 spent$2,477,065 earned by the program75% of program spendingContract management services (cms) program operates in rock island, illinois. Chicago Lighthouse Industries operates as a sub-contractor for national industries for the blind, employing trained contract closeout specialists for the purpose of de-obligating unspent funds for the military, through the closeout process. During fy25, three people with visual and other disabilities, as well as veterans, were provided jobs in this program.
$310,904 spent$352,339 earned by the program10% of program spendingFederal government service contracts provide jobs for qualified people who are blind or visually impaired, with Chicago Lighthouse Industries maintaining responsibility for recruiting, training and hiring for these positions and managing such contracts, at offsite locations. Those employed are paid by Chicago Lighthouse Industries. The work is performed in champaign, illinois, where employees of Chicago Lighthouse Industries are engaged in janitorial, and warehousing activities, fulfilling the requirements of two federal government service contracts. During fy25, nine people with visual and other disabilities were provided employment under these contracts.
$494,582 spent$687,209 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,229,065.
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 2018 to 2019, from $1.3M to $1.8M (+38%).
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: 2022 1% · 2023 3% · 2024 4% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
10% of CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Janet P Szlyk
President & CEO
Board chair
Michael F Meehan
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $33k → $37k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $750k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired). These are real filings, and they are not money CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES raised.
From the IRS filings of CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES’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 LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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 LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.2M on record.
- Department of Defense$5.2M
- Department of the Treasury$22k
- Department of Veterans Affairs$4k
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 LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Chicago Lighthouse for People · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES: 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 LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES?
- CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $121,173 to it, the largest being NATIONAL INDUSTRIES FOR THE BLIND ($120,653). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $121,173 in grants to CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES?
- NATIONAL INDUSTRIES FOR THE BLIND is the largest funder on record, with $120,653 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE INDUSTRIES 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 Chicago Lighthouse Industries →
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 2 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