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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
16/20 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 57%
01What it does

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

  1. 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 program
    26% of program spending
  2. Collections - acquisitions, processing, cataloguing, storage and conservation of artifacts including the costume program and the archives/library.

    $112,391 spent
    26% of program spending
  3. Restoration and conservation - improvements, and building and grounds maintenance.

    $176,647 spent
    42% of program spending
  4. Membership - 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 program
    6% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $424,474.

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 ($407k) Expenses 100 ($563k) Net assets 100 ($7.4M)2018 Revenue 96 ($391k) Expenses 98 ($554k) Net assets 99 ($7.3M)2020 Revenue 243 ($989k) Expenses 130 ($733k) Net assets 108 ($8.0M)2021 Revenue 127 ($518k) Expenses 100 ($561k) Net assets 114 ($8.5M)2022 Revenue 164 ($666k) Expenses 110 ($621k) Net assets 109 ($8.1M)2023 Revenue 114 ($466k) Expenses 116 ($651k) Net assets 108 ($8.0M)2024 Revenue 295 ($1.2M) Expenses 133 ($747k) Net assets 114 ($8.4M)2025 Revenue 352 ($1.4M) Expenses 144 ($808k) Net assets 125 ($9.3M)
'17'18'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (352)Expenses (144)Net assets (125)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 2024 to 2025, from $8.5M to $9.3M (+10%).

$7.6M
$7.5M
$8.1M
$8.6M
$8.1M
$8.1M
$8.5M
$9.3M
'17'18'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

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).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$156k
’17
−$163k
’18
$256k
’20
−$43k
’21
$45k
’22
−$185k
’23
$455k
’24
$627k
’25
9.4
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.

Chief executive

Deborah Kasindorf

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed2327191920191916
Joined·+9·+7+7+6+7+3
No longer listed·5·76776
03Who funds it

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

64%
largest funder
85%
top three
~2
effective funders

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.

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

85% of EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

NH
IL
IA
CA
DC
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. $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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin44% · top quartile
Months of reserve9.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · top quartile

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.

Federal$311k
grants $311kcontracts $0
24
25
Top agencies
  • 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

53% of spending goes to programs.

Program 53%Management 30%Fundraising 18%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

IL

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.

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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