Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND
CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,171,191 to it, the largest being ARIE AND IDA CROWN MEMORIAL ($8,507,501). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $43M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Chicago Public Education Fund does
Mission
The Chicago Public Education Fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
During 2025, the organization discontinued its affinity groups program and transitioned support for aspiring black and latino/a/x principals to its leadership bridge program.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Programmatic supportsprograms: design, leadership bridge, malott, masterclass, network, professional learning communities, & pipelinethe fund invests in direct support for school leaders through programs designed to meet them where they are. Our programs are open to all school leaders (principals), aspiring principals (assistant principals, instructional leaders, and teacher leaders), and principal supervisors across chicago's public schools. We use real-time data on school leaders' needs and student learning to pilot, refine, and sustain what works.one of our most popular programs, the fund's professional learning communities (plcs) offered a structured space for principals to learn from data, colleagues, and peer accountability. Led by educational leaders, these peer-study groups spanned 12 topics in semester-length sessions, enabling school leaders to benefit from multiple topics throughout the year and earn illinois administrator academy credits toward annual certification requirements. In 2025, 93 unique school leaders and 12 plc leaders participated in a plc.our masterclass learning series offered responsive professional development tailored to school leaders' changing…
$3,958,856 spentof which $1,208,272 as grants56% of program spendingSystems, data & policyprograms: cboe, eac, lsc, policy engagement, field catalyststrong schools require effective local leadership and a shared commitment to student learning. The fund's systems, data, and policy work aims to strengthen these conditions in and across schools. We support principals, principal supervisors, local school councils (lscs), and the chicago board of education (cboe) in serving local communities and chicago's young people.in 2025, the fund offered robust programming to support local school councils (lscs). Our community engagement accelerator helped 7 schools strengthen their engagement with families, students, lsc members, and community partners, with a specific focus on the involved families component of the 5essentials survey. In partnership with the cps department of principal quality, the lsc mentorship program paired 14 principals with 6 experienced colleagues to provide guidance through lsc meeting visits, debriefing sessions, and action planning. The lsc masterclass series complemented this work with sessions on effective communication, transparent decision-making, and meaningful community engagement. Finally, lsc working groups convened 22 lsc…
$2,124,738 spentof which $131,878 as grants30% of program spendingEducator engagementprograms: principal appreciationthe fund recognizes school leaders' critical role in student success. The fund celebrates school leaders and connects them to each other and to the broader community. Our annual principal appreciation and assistant principal appreciation campaigns engage the public and local school communities in celebrating leaders. In october, our principal appreciation campaign featured celebratory events for school leaders, such as free tickets to a chicago bulls game, and a storytelling event that highlighted transformational school leaders' stories and connected them with their peers. To raise awareness citywide, we ran a social media campaign. We partnered with the chicago transit authority and local organizations to feature strong school leaders on buses and trains throughout chicago.our ap appreciation campaign occurred in april. We hosted events that offered opportunities for assistant principals to gather and be recognized for their contributions to their schools. Attendees also built community with their peers, cboe members, and community partners.through all our educator engagement work, our goal is to ensure chicago's school leaders…
$939,041 spentof which $12,500 as grants13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,022,635.
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 2021 to 2022, from $22M to $41M (+87%).
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.
86% of CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Heather Y Anichini
President & CEO
Board chair
Brent Gledhill
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $610k → $5.6M.
9 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 funders by total. 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
26% 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 63% · 2019 43% · 2020 33% · 2021 28% · 2022 44% · 2023 27% — 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
66% of CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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
80% of CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
46%
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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND: 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 PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND?
- CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $43,171,191 to it, the largest being ARIE AND IDA CROWN MEMORIAL ($8,507,501). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $43,171,191 in grants to CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND?
- ARIE AND IDA CROWN MEMORIAL is the largest funder on record, with $8,507,501 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND 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 56 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing