Illinois · Nonprofit
EQUIP FOR EQUALITY
EQUIP FOR EQUALITY (Illinois) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,428,859 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($2,917,200). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.6M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $7.4M
- Net assets
- $3.3M
What Equip for Equality does
Mission
Advance the human & civil rights of children and adults with disabilities in illinois. Administer federally mandated protection & advocacy system for state; exercise statutory powers, and serve as legal advocate and independent watchdog over public & private sectors.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Protection & advocacy for people with developmental disabilities (padd)padd is the first state p&a program created by congress under the dd assistance & bill of rights act of 1975, following a national expose by geraldo rivera on deplorable conditions in a large state-run developmental center in new york. Under the act, Equip for Equality (efe) is to pursue legal, administrative and other appropriate remedies to protect and advocate for the rights of individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities under federal and state laws. Federal law requires the state p&a to be independent of service providers for people with developmental disabilities. Through the padd program, efe has provided eligible individuals with self-advocacy assistance, and representation in negotiations, administrative proceedings and individual and systemic litigation. In addition, efe has the authority to monitor community-based facilities and programs as well as private and public institutions. Over the years, tens of thousands of individuals have benefited from our legal advocacy services and independent monitoring efforts. Efe empowers people with intellectual / developmental disabilities and their…
$1,055,147 spent14% of program spendingRep payee program the federal strengthening protections for social security beneficiaries act of 2018 empowers state p&as, including efe, to conduct performance reviews of representative payees to determine if beneficiary funds are properly safeguarded and to ensure beneficiary needs are met. The act also directs the organization to conduct outreach and educational trainings to ensure that payees understand their duties and responsibilities.if efe's detailed review finds that the payee is not carrying out its duties, corrective action(s) may be needed for the payee to continue to manage the beneficiary's money. Once all corrective actions are implemented, or if the review finds that no corrective action is needed, the payee is notified that the review is complete.as a result of these reviews, efe helps payees understand their roles and responsibilities and ensures that beneficiary needs are met. Efe also alerts the social security administration (ssa) when a payee is not acting in a beneficiary's best interest, sometimes leading to the removal of the payee. Finally, efe also alerts ssa and other investigating agencies if abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation is uncovered…
$903,669 spent12% of program spendingProtection & advocacy for people with mental illnessthe paimi program was established in 1986, following congressional hearings that documented widespread abuse and neglect, suspicious deaths, deplorable conditions, inadequate staffing and lack of appropriate mental health treatment at private and public inpatient facilities, as well as a lack of independent oversight of these settings. Under paimi, efe is required to protect and advocate for the rights of people with mental illness and investigate reports of abuse and neglect in facilities that provide care or treatment for this population as well as for people living in the community. Through the paimi program, efe provides eligible individuals and families with self-advocacy assistance, and representation in negotiations, administrative proceedings and individual and systemic litigation. In addition, efe has the authority to monitor public and private community-based settings and institutions. Tens of thousands of people with mental illness have benefited from our legal advocacy services and independent monitoring efforts. Efe empowers people with mental health disabilities and their families through disability rights training…
$873,707 spent12% of program spendingOther efe programsefe also administers the other federal p&a programs for illinois, including people with disabilities under the ada encountering discrimination and other rights violations, people receiving federal disability payments (supplemental security income or social security disability insurance) who are encountering barriers to employment, people with traumatic brain injury whose rights are violated, voters with disabilities encountering accessibility barriers such as at their polling place, people encountering challenges in securing assistive technology devices and related training, and people encountering barriers in seeking job training and placement through the state rehabilitation system.with additional support from individuals, leading corporations and law firms, state government and private foundations, Equip for Equality has been able to significantly expand the scope and reach of its mission. Efe has two legal services teams the civil rights program and the special education rights clinic, and our third program is the independent monitoring unit.the organization also engages in public policy advocacy and drafts and advances state legislation to protect and…
$4,487,055 spent$158,406 earned by the program61% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,319,578.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $3.8M to $5.6M (+47%).
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: 2017 71% · 2018 67% · 2019 63% · 2020 76% · 2021 83% · 2022 74% · 2023 76% · 2024 81% · 2025 77%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Zena Naiditch
President & CEO/ex-officio
Board chair
Mark Rotatori
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $643k → $1.1M.
5 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 EQUIP FOR EQUALITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 funders by total. 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
EQUIP FOR EQUALITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 EQUIP FOR EQUALITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 31% · 2019 34% · 2020 35% · 2021 33% · 2022 34% · 2023 40% — 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
50% of EQUIP FOR EQUALITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
83% of EQUIP FOR EQUALITY's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $373k 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.
Government funding EQUIP FOR EQUALITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $45.0M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$28.0M
- Social Security Administration$9.3M
- Department of Education$7.7M
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 EQUIP FOR EQUALITY
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 EQUIP FOR EQUALITY: 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 EQUIP FOR EQUALITY?
- EQUIP FOR EQUALITY (Illinois) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,428,859 to it, the largest being LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS ($2,917,200). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EQUIP FOR EQUALITY have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $7,428,859 in grants to EQUIP FOR EQUALITY, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EQUIP FOR EQUALITY?
- LAWYERS TRUST FUND OF ILLINOIS is the largest funder on record, with $2,917,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EQUIP FOR EQUALITY 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 Equip for Equality →
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 35 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