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Illinois · Nonprofit

CROSSWORD CAFE

CROSSWORD CAFE (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $2,000 to it, the largest being Chillicothe Foundation Inc ($2,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.6M
Funders on record
1
Grants received
$2k
Net assets
$540k
0/1 repeat funders
01What it does

What Crossword Cafe does

Mission

Provide a safe place for teens to hang out, play games and music, obtain free tutoring, free music lessons, and learn about the love of God for them through Christ Jesus.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provide a safe place for teens to hang out, play games and music, obtain free tutoring, free music lessons, and learn about the love of God for them through Christ Jesus.

    $638,814 spentof which $477,530 as grants
    100% of program spending
  2. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $638,814.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($637k) Expenses 100 ($556k) Net assets 100 ($355k)2021 Revenue 129 ($825k) Expenses 138 ($768k) Net assets 116 ($411k)2022 Revenue 171 ($1.1M) Expenses 184 ($1.0M) Net assets 135 ($479k)2023 Revenue 204 ($1.3M) Expenses 217 ($1.2M) Net assets 95 ($337k)2024 Revenue 217 ($1.4M) Expenses 232 ($1.3M) Net assets 121 ($430k)2025 Revenue 246 ($1.6M) Expenses 262 ($1.5M) Net assets 152 ($540k)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (246)Expenses (262)Net assets (152)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 $551k to $792k (+44%).

$435k
$477k
$566k
$641k
$551k
$792k
202020212022202320242025
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 5% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of CROSSWORD CAFE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$81k
’20
$56k
’21
$68k
’22
$90k
’23
$89k
’24
$108k
’25
1.3
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.

202020212022202320242025
Listed667787
Joined·+0+3+2+1+2
No longer listed·02203
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

Funder
'18
total
funders
1

From the IRS filings of CROSSWORD CAFE’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.

Where its funders are

100% of CROSSWORD CAFE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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

CROSSWORD CAFE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin7% · above the median
Months of reserve1.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like CROSSWORD CAFE

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

44% of spending goes to programs.

Program 44%Management 56%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CROSSWORD CAFE: 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 CROSSWORD CAFE?
CROSSWORD CAFE (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $2,000 to it, the largest being Chillicothe Foundation Inc ($2,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CROSSWORD CAFE have?
IRS filings report 1 organization giving $2,000 in grants to CROSSWORD CAFE.
Who is the largest funder of CROSSWORD CAFE?
Chillicothe Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $2,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CROSSWORD CAFE 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 1 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