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Illinois · Nonprofit

CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY

CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,141,593 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($925,023). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 98% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$7.5M
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$1.1M
Net assets
$8.4M
10/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 1%
01What it does

What Creative Children's Academy D/B/A Quest Academy does

Mission

Quest academy is an independent school which provides an intellectually rich environment of academics and art for gifted students ages 3-14.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Quest academy is an elementary/middle school for approximately 260 intellectually gifted and creatively talented children.

    $5,522,044 spentof which $684,170 as grants$6,914,792 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,522,044.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($5.2M) Expenses 100 ($5.5M) Net assets 100 ($4.9M)2019 Revenue 101 ($5.3M) Expenses 91 ($5.1M) Net assets 96 ($4.7M)2020 Revenue 98 ($5.1M) Expenses 94 ($5.2M) Net assets 92 ($4.5M)2021 Revenue 118 ($6.2M) Expenses 94 ($5.2M) Net assets 117 ($5.8M)2022 Revenue 123 ($6.4M) Expenses 108 ($6.0M) Net assets 124 ($6.1M)2023 Revenue 126 ($6.6M) Expenses 113 ($6.3M) Net assets 136 ($6.7M)2024 Revenue 134 ($7.0M) Expenses 115 ($6.4M) Net assets 151 ($7.5M)2025 Revenue 143 ($7.5M) Expenses 120 ($6.6M) Net assets 170 ($8.4M)
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (143)Expenses (120)Net assets (170)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 2024 to 2025, from $13M to $15M (+8%).

$11M
$11M
$11M
$12M
$12M
$13M
$13M
$15M
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

6% of CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,360 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$296k
’17
$250k
’19
−$83k
’20
$1.0M
’21
$470k
’22
$305k
’23
$629k
’24
$871k
’25
7.6
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.

Board chair

Nader Qaimari

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed1818171715191617
Joined··+1+3+4+7+0+3
No longer listed··236332
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $7k → $79k.

9 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 98% 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 CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY’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

CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

98% 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 CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY.

81%
largest funder
94%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 77% · 2019 100% · 2020 35% · 2021 75% · 2022 45% · 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

38% of CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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

98% of CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY'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 $24k that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 6 states.

IL
WI
MA
PA
VA
NC

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

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin12% · above the median
Months of reserve7.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3k on record.

State$3k
10
15
Top programs
  • DEDICATED$3k
  • GRANT IN AID$192

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 CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY

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

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 15%Fundraising 2%

Governance

15
board members
93%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Palatine Retail Center LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY: 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 CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY?
CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,141,593 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($925,023). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 98% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,141,593 in grants to CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY?
AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $925,023 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CREATIVE CHILDREN'S ACADEMY D/B/A QUEST ACADEMY 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 Creative Children's Academy D/B/A Quest Academy →

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 17 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