Illinois · Nonprofit
EPIC Academy
EPIC Academy (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $61,591 to it, the largest being REBECCA KUTCHINS FUND ($27,200). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.1M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $62k
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What EPIC Academy does
Mission
EPIC Academy has a shared commitment for our students to pursue excellence and high expectations for postsecondary success, working towards college and career readiness through a variety of pathways.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Rigorous college curriculum to prepare students for college and career success. Student enrollment is approximately 260 students. EPIC Academy (the "Academy") was formed to provide educational services to high school students with a rigorous college preparatory curriculum. The Academy is supported primarily through per capita tuition payments under a performance agreement (the "Agreement") with Chicago Public Schools ("CPS") and the Chicago Board of Education (the "Board"). Additional support is provided by grants from state and federal agencies, various community and corporate foundations, and the general public. The Academy has been certified as a charter school by the Illinois State Board of Education, effective July 1, 2010. The first instruction year commenced in September 2009 with 120 students in the 9th grade. The Academy supports grades 9 through 12, to an anticipated total capacity of 600 students in future years. The Academy is located in Chicago, Illinois. The Academy will not charge tuition to any student, unless the student would otherwise be liable under the School Code, as defined within the agreement with the Board. The Academy may charge reasonable fees as…
$4,250,559 spentof which $17,000 as grants$2,995,390 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,250,559.
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 2023 to 2024, from $5.4M to $3.8M (−29%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 38% · 2022 36% · 2023 44% · 2024 33% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
28% of EPIC Academy’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Leeandra Khan
Executive director
Board chair
Andrew Annacone
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $11k → $5k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 EPIC 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
EPIC Academy leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
26% 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 EPIC Academy.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 98% · 2019 66% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 50% · 2023 100% — 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
13% of EPIC Academy's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 40% 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
99% of EPIC Academy's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $16k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
EPIC Academy's revenue fell 30% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like EPIC 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EPIC 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.
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 EPIC Academy?
- EPIC Academy (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $61,591 to it, the largest being REBECCA KUTCHINS FUND ($27,200). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EPIC Academy have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $61,591 in grants to EPIC Academy, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EPIC Academy?
- REBECCA KUTCHINS FUND is the largest funder on record, with $27,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EPIC 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 EPIC 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 10 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