Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,139 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($5,301). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $36k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $6k
- Net assets
- $246k
What Chicago Ornithological Society does
Mission
The organization's primary exempt purpose is to promote the appreciation, study, and conservation of birds and their habitats throughout the Chicago region by providing educational programs, organizing bird-watching field trips, supporting habitat restoration and conservation initiatives, and engaging in outreach and advocacy efforts that encourage the protection of bird species and the natural environments on which they depend.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Study and research: In 2025, the organization ran a Monitoring Avian Productivity & Survivorship bird banding station on Chicago's southeast side and awarded grants to support banding skills development of 3 volunteers. The organization also awarded a grant to fund research using Motus tracking.
$5,845 spentof which $5,050 as grants71% of program spendingEducational programming: In 2025, the organization organized free in-person and virtual educational programs which drew over 700 participants. The organization awarded grant to a local educator working with local young people that further bird conservation, education, and advocacy.
$1,274 spentof which $974 as grants16% of program spendingConservation and habitat restoration: In 2025, the organization supported multiple conservation and habitat restoration efforts at local parks and forest preserves, including year-round harbitat restoration workdays and seasonal monitoring of endangered species.
$1,078 spent13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $8,197.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2024 to 2025, from $226k to $246k (+9%).
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.
65% of CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $39 → $214.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 ORNITHOLOGICAL 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 ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% 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
91% 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 ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 97% · 2022 56% · 2023 56% — 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
91% of CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $540 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6k 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.
Against its field
CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,315 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,315 animals nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
96%
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 ORNITHOLOGICAL 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.
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 ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,139 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($5,301). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $6,139 in grants to CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
- NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $5,301 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO ORNITHOLOGICAL 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.
Play a game about who funds Chicago Ornithological Society →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 3 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