Illinois · Nonprofit
CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,744,272 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($11,556,597). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.9M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $5.7M
What Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation does
Mission
The mission of Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation is to empower urban lutheran schools to deliver innovative, quality education in a christian environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation helps children achieve academically within a christian environment by providing financial assistance, educational consulting, and teacher professional development to lutheran preschool, elementary, and secondary schools in chicago.
$1,074,725 spent$32,311 earned by the program27% of program spendingGrants to chicago area elementary and secondary schools in furtherance of lutheran education and upkeep of those facilities. Grant funding supports many areas including scholarships, technology, curriculum materials, school capital needs, teacher salary support and teacher professional development.
$2,041,520 spentof which $2,041,520 as grants51% of program spendingThe p360 leadership training program for principals and teachers is designed to build the school management, classroom management and leadership skills necessary to foster and maintain sustainable, high-quality lutheran educational environments. The program focuses on three major initiatives: strategic strength & management, educational best practices, and leadership & interpersonal empowerment.
$876,849 spent$115,500 earned by the program22% of program spendingThe lutheran urban kingdom expansion (luke) ubran ministry renewal initiative works to revitalize existing church congregations and create new missional ministries in the chicago area
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,993,094.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.7M to $4.6M (+27%).
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.
95% of CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Jay Christopher
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $3.1M.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 79% 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 CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION’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
CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 92% · 2019 94% · 2020 61% · 2021 91% · 2022 78% · 2023 49% — 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
60% of CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
79% of CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION'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 $3.3M that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL 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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
55%
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 CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL 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 CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION?
- CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,744,272 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($11,556,597). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $15,744,272 in grants to CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $11,556,597 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL 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.
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 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