Illinois · Nonprofit
EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER
EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,240,650 to it, the largest being TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND ($800,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $9.3M
What Evanston History Center does
Mission
The Evanston History Center collects, preserves and shares evanston history to educate, inspire and enrich the people of evanston.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education - community outreach and special events of an educational/cultural nature, including the operation of research room, lecture series and the planning, design and installation of publications related to special exhibits.
$109,020 spent$28,537 earned by the program26% of program spendingCollections - acquisitions, processing, cataloguing, storage and conservation of artifacts including the costume program and the archives/library.
$112,391 spent26% of program spendingRestoration and conservation - improvements, and building and grounds maintenance.
$176,647 spent42% of program spendingMembership - to support the Evanston History Center's mission to collect, preserve, and share the history of the community for generations to come.
$26,416 spent$22,685 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $424,474.
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 2024 to 2025, from $8.5M to $9.3M (+10%).
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 11% · 2022 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Deborah Kasindorf
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $18k → $265k.
3 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER’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
EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 91% · 2019 82% · 2020 81% · 2021 72% · 2022 82% · 2023 58% — 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
57% of EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 80% 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
85% of EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $133k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $311k on record.
- Department of the Interior$177k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$133k
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 EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER
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
53% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
40%
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 EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER: 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 EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER?
- EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,240,650 to it, the largest being TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND ($800,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,240,650 in grants to EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER?
- TAWANI CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTION FUND is the largest funder on record, with $800,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER 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 Evanston History Center →
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 20 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