Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 134 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,665,631 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 79 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 134
- Grants received
- $9.7M
- Net assets
- $39M
What Chicago Public Library Foundation does
Mission
The Chicago Public Library Foundation was established in 1986 as an independent nonprofit dedicated to connecting private investment with innovative and community-responsive programming that leverages our library's city-wide footprint, resources, and commitment to lifelong learning. In true public-private partnership, this infusion of philanthropic resources has helped to launch and sustain resources that empower chicagoans of all ages living and working in the city's 77 neighborhoods.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In a knowledge-driven economy, education can open the door to jobs, innovation, and more. Yet, for many chicago students, affordable out-of-school enrichment opportunities remain limited. Donor-powered programs such as summer learning activities and afterschool homework help leverage our library's city-wide 81-branch footprint, resources, and commitment to lifelong learning to help ensure that all our city's children have the support they need to thrive early in life and beyond.
$1,390,422 spent36% of program spendingChicago's world-renowned arts and culture sector fuels creative, economic, and innovative growth. But many chicagoans are shut out from the holistic benefits of the arts due to high costs. Our city, in turn, misses out on opportunities to be elevated and enriched by the inclusion of different voices and viewpoints. These programs invite all chicagoans to explore ways of expressing themselves and imagining new possibilities for their lives, their communities, and chicago.
$1,577,380 spent41% of program spendingWith online learning, telehealth, services, and remote employment on the rise, internet access and digital literacy are more vital today than ever before. Yet, many adults and older adults lack the skills they need to navigate our digital world. These programs work to bridge this skill and resource gap known as the digital divide through user-friendly video-based modules on chicago digitallearn and one-to-one digital literacy lessons with a trained digital navigator.
$613,832 spent16% of program spendingOther programmatic expenditures include branch programs and other library programs that are held throughout the year.
$264,929 spent7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,846,563.
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 $39M to $34M (−14%).
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.
66% of CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’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 8 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
Brenda Langstraat Bui
President & CEO
Board chair
Robert Wislow
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 57 funders, grant income rose $259k → $2.4M.
18 of 134 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.3M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 134 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 34% · 2019 30% · 2020 24% · 2021 18% · 2022 15% · 2023 42% — growing more concentrated.
“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
44% of CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
61% of CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $344k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$344k
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 PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION
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
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION: 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 LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 134 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,665,631 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 79 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 134 organizations giving $9,665,631 in grants to CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION, 79 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION 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 Public Library →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 134 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