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Illinois · Nonprofit

EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE

EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $504,700 to it, the largest being DONAHUE FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($117,500). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.1M
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$505k
Net assets
$18M
11/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 7%
01What it does

What Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense does

Mission

To study and research problems concerning the status of women, including the conduct of surveys, and to defend the civil liberties, legal, economic, and social rights of women.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. To study and research problems concerning the status of women, including the conduct of surveys, and to defend the civil, legal, economic, and social rights of women.

    $1,285,883 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,285,883.

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 ($1.2M) Expenses 100 ($3.8M) Net assets 100 ($23M)2018 Revenue 238 ($2.8M) Expenses 104 ($3.9M) Net assets 80 ($18M)2019 Revenue 115 ($1.3M) Expenses 110 ($4.2M) Net assets 78 ($18M)2020 Revenue 183 ($2.1M) Expenses 119 ($4.5M) Net assets 73 ($17M)2021 Revenue 174 ($2.0M) Expenses 72 ($2.7M) Net assets 73 ($17M)2022 Revenue 85 ($991k) Expenses 53 ($2.0M) Net assets 67 ($15M)2023 Revenue 86 ($1.0M) Expenses 42 ($1.6M) Net assets 72 ($17M)2024 Revenue 177 ($2.1M) Expenses 39 ($1.5M) Net assets 80 ($18M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (177)Expenses (39)Net assets (80)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 2017 to 2018, from $23M to $19M (−19%).

$23M
$19M
$18M
$17M
$17M
$16M
$17M
$18M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

60% of EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,024 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$2.6M
’17
−$1.2M
’18
−$2.8M
’19
−$2.4M
’20
−$670k
’21
−$1.0M
’22
−$599k
’23
$603k
’24
1.0
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

Marylin Shannon

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed109111111111110
Joined·+0+2+0+0+0+5+0
No longer listed·1000051
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $30k → $27k.

5 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE’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

EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

55% 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 EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE.

23%
largest funder
56%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 81% · 2019 71% · 2020 60% · 2021 55% · 2022 37% · 2023 37% — 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

70% of EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 11 states in all.

MI
PA
NJ
CA
NE
VA
DE
TN
DC
TX
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $248k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 978 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin29% · top quartile
Months of reserve1.0mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 978 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE

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

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 11%Fundraising 1%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE?
EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $504,700 to it, the largest being DONAHUE FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($117,500). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $504,700 in grants to EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE?
DONAHUE FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $117,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like EAGLE FORUM EDUCATION & LEGAL DEFENSE 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 Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense →

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 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