Illinois · Nonprofit
Erikson Institute
Erikson Institute (Illinois) receives grants from 133 organizations whose IRS filings report $52,297,319 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($13,289,950). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $33M
- Funders on record
- 133
- Grants received
- $52M
- Net assets
- $77M
What Erikson Institute does
Mission
Erikson is a leading institution of higher education that prepares professionals to address the urgent challenges facing young children, their families and communities. Our innovative programs, transformative research and impactful advocacy empower early childhood professionals to drive lasting change. Erikson strives to build a future where every child thrives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
ACADEMICS: Through master's degree, doctoral degrees, graduate certificate programs, and a variety of professional development programs, Erikson Institute prepares leaders in child development, social work, and early childhood education. We offer the most comprehensive, interdisciplinary understanding of children and families through classes on campus and online. We also offer programs to help professionals who work with children and families hone their skills, learn new techniques, and earn credits to maintain their professional licenses. In FY 2023, Erikson continued to invest in the growth and refinement of our academic offerings. We launched a Master of Science in Early Childhood Education degree that comes with a triple endorsement in early education, special education, and bilingual/ English as a Second Language-a program that is the first of its kind in the state of Illinois. Further, we were able to offer 19 Educator Impact Grants which covered the full tuition and fees of the program as long as awardees agreed to teach for four years following completion of the degree. We also hired Erikson's first ever Dean of Faculty, as well as an Associate Vice President of Internal…
$12,024,335 spentof which $2,324,643 as grants$4,808,369 earned by the program55% of program spendingDIRECT CLINICAL SERVICES: Erikson provides a variety of direct services to children and families, as well as consulting and training for professionals who work with them. Our Fussy Baby Network, Center for Children and Families (CCF), and Early Childhood Project, a partnership with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, have served over 7,000 families. Every year, our students contribute over 49,000 hours of field service across 68 agencies that serve children and their families. The team at Erikson's Center for Children and Families consists of psychologists, social workers, developmental and behavioral pediatricians, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, and other licensed mental health professionals who provide pediatric mental health services for children aged 0-8, as well as their families and caregivers. In fiscal year 2023, the Erikson DCFS Early Childhood Project served 5,993 children directly through collaborative work, reaching children across the state of Illinois. Erikson also offers programs to help professionals who work with children and families improve their skills, learn new techniques, and earn credits to maintain their…
$7,301,222 spent$1,575,221 earned by the program33% of program spendingRESEARCH, POLICY & LEADERSHIP: Erikson Institute leads the field in early childhood research, uncovering opportunities for us to drive positive change for children, families, and communities. Erikson's current research projects respond directly to the needs of young children and the people who serve them by focusing on what works and models that can be replicated. Our groundbreaking research includes several studies that are the first of their kind in the field on topics including home visiting, Infants and Toddlers, and home-based childcare. Erikson's Policy and Leadership Department works to advance our systems by making them more effective, efficient and accessible to young children and their families by providing key leaders with the knowledge and tools to generate policy solutions that improve access to high-quality early childhood supports and services. The Policy & Leadership team supported Erikson President, Mariana Souto-Manning, in her presentation to the Illinois Senate's Early Childhood Education Committee, which highlighted that 90 percent of the brain is developed by age five and how every $1 invested in quality early childhood programs yields a $7 return. In 2023,…
$2,607,561 spentof which $427,379 as grants$18,714 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $21,933,118.
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 2020 to 2021, from $80M to $95M (+19%).
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 27% · 2018 29% · 2019 23% · 2020 25% · 2021 25% · 2022 15% · 2023 16% · 2024 27% · 2025 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of Erikson Institute’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% 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.
Board chair
Eric Adelstein
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 52 funders, grant income rose $7.0M → $13M.
15 of 133 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 Erikson Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 133 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
Erikson Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
48% 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 Erikson Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 24% · 2019 53% · 2020 17% · 2021 48% · 2022 31% · 2023 74% — broadly stable.
“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
46% of Erikson Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
Erikson Institute draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $24M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
Erikson Institute runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Erikson Institute receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.5M on record — $9.3M federal, $262k state.
- Department of Education$3.8M
- Department of Health and Human Services$3.6M
- National Science Foundation$1.5M
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$350k
- CT$152k
- MA$79k
- OR$32k
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 Erikson Institute
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 Erikson Institute: 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 Erikson Institute?
- Erikson Institute (Illinois) receives grants from 133 organizations whose IRS filings report $52,297,319 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($13,289,950). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Erikson Institute have?
- IRS filings report 133 organizations giving $52,297,319 in grants to Erikson Institute, 77 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Erikson Institute?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $13,289,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Erikson Institute 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 133 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