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Illinois · Nonprofit

CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS

CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $336,748 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($125,450). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$328k
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$337k
Net assets
$-25343
5/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 25%
01What it does

What Chicago Mobile Makers does

Mission

Chicago Mobile Makers creates programming that encourages youth to become advocates and change-makers in their own communities through design-focused skill-building workshops. The organization engages and empowers youth through making and skill-building trains and supports future public interest architects designers and makers.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Educational Consulting: The Aspen Art Museum engaged Chicago Mobile Makers to serve as an Education Partner for the 2024 Youth Art Expo. The organization designed educational design prompts and instructional videos. Chicago Mobile Makers also facilitated a teen program focusing on the design of youth third spaces that culminated in the transformation of a gallery at the museum.

    $17,500 spent$17,500 earned by the program
    6% of program spending
  2. Community Pop-Ups: Chicago Mobile Makers hosted over 30 pop-ups across the Chicago-land area over two years with the Mobile Makerspace a USPS delivery van that the organization converted into a mobile design studio. Hundreds of participants engaged with playful design-related activities and were encouraged to envision and reimagine their communities.

    $57,500 spentof which $57,500 as grants$57,500 earned by the program
    21% of program spending
  3. Recurring Workshops: Chicago Mobile Makers partnered with Embarc Chicago on a series of field trips. Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools students visited the organizations permanent location to participate in design workshops and explore educational themes related to architecture prototyping and digital fabrication.

    $9,100 spent$9,100 earned by the program
    3% of program spending
  4. Program Facilitators

    $102,186 spent
    36% of program spending
  5. Office Supplies

    $13,490 spent
    5% of program spending
  6. Rent

    $65,576 spent
    23% of program spending
  7. Insurance

    $15,005 spent
    5% of program spending

The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $280,357.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($217k) Expenses 100 ($208k) Net assets 100 ($47k)2022 Revenue 126 ($273k) Expenses 143 ($298k) Net assets 46 ($22k)2023 Revenue 210 ($456k) Expenses 194 ($404k) Net assets 157 ($74k)2024 Revenue 151 ($328k) Expenses 214 ($446k) Net assets -54 ($-25343)
2021202220232024
Revenue (151)Expenses (214)Net assets (-54)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 2022 to 2023, from $38k to $94k (+145%).

$63k
$38k
$94k
$61k
2021202220232024
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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 20% · 2024 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

78% of CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,387 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.

$8k
’21
−$25k
’22
$52k
’23
−$118k
’24
0.1
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

Maya Bird-Murphy

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2021202220232024
Listed5543
Joined·+0+0+0
No longer listed·011
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $17k → $77k.

2 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 MOBILE MAKERS’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 MOBILE MAKERS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

74% 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 MOBILE MAKERS.

37%
largest funder
62%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 89% · 2021 87% · 2022 44% · 2023 66% — 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.

How long its funders stay

50% of CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 26% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

79% of CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NY
MA
IN
CA

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $126k 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 MOBILE MAKERS has grown faster than half of the 5,688 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−36% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.1mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,688 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Government funding CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $49k on record.

Federal$49k
grants $49kcontracts $0
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$49k

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 MOBILE MAKERS

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

63% of spending goes to programs.

Program 63%Management 37%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
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 MOBILE MAKERS: 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 MOBILE MAKERS?
CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $336,748 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($125,450). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $336,748 in grants to CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS?
The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $125,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS 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 Mobile Makers →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 19 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