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Illinois · Nonprofit

Fifth Star Funds Inc

Fifth Star Funds Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $73,746 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($73,746). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$279k
Funders on record
1
Grants received
$74k
Net assets
$884k
0/1 repeat funders
01What it does

What Fifth Star Funds Inc does

Mission

Fifth Star Funds aims to foster a more equitable society by supporting a start-up ecosystem that is representative of today's world. We do this by reducing bias in the deal sourcing process, equalizing access to opportunity, allocating early-stage capital, providing network access, and delivering thoughtful support services that meet the needs of our founders.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Fifth Star Funds aims to foster a more equitable society by supporting a start-up ecosystem that is representative of today's world. We do this by reducing bias in the deal sourcing process, equalizing access to opportunity, allocating early-stage capital, providing network access, and delivering thoughtful support services that meet the needs of our founders.

    $59,822 spent$51 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $59,822.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 = 20242024 Revenue 100 ($793k) Expenses 100 ($115k) Net assets 100 ($678k)2025 Revenue 35 ($279k) Expenses 63 ($73k) Net assets 130 ($884k)
20242025
Revenue (35)Expenses (63)Net assets (130)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 $682k to $887k (+30%).

$682k
$887k
20242025
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.

2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of Fifth Star Funds Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (62% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,439 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.

$678k
’24
$207k
’25
39
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.

20242025
Listed74
Joined·+0
No longer listed·3
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

Funder
'24*
total
funders
1

1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 Fifth Star Funds Inc’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.

Where its funders are

100% of Fifth Star Funds Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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

Fifth Star Funds Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 7,175 community improvement nonprofits its size.

Operating margin74% · top quartile
Months of reserve38.8mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−65% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,175 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Fifth Star Funds Inc

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

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 18%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
83%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Fifth Star Funds Inc: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Fifth Star Funds Inc?
Fifth Star Funds Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $73,746 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($73,746). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Fifth Star Funds Inc have?
IRS filings report 1 organization giving $73,746 in grants to Fifth Star Funds Inc.
Who is the largest funder of Fifth Star Funds Inc?
TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $73,746 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Fifth Star Funds Inc 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 2024–2025), and the filings of 1 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