Illinois · Nonprofit
FIRSTREPAIR
FIRSTREPAIR (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,276,938 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($717,850). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $625k
What Firstrepair does
Mission
Firstrepair envisions a just society where black people are liberated, thriving, and repaired. Firstrepair advances local reparations, nationally by supporting community organizations, local government and other relevant institutions and bodies in successfully implementing tangible reparations through local efforts.together with our partners, we help local leaders explore, plan, and take concrete steps to advance reparations. We are the primary resource for legislative bodies, committees, taskforces and commissions, elected leaders, reparations practitioners, seeking information, support, and community for policy solutions that advance a repaired world. We are also the go-to partner for community advocates, interfaith and lay leaders, academics and researchers, activists and racial justice leaders committed to reparatory justice. Our services include: (1) strategic advising, both one-on-one strategic advising in closed sessions for elected leaders and testimony for public sessions, adv
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The national symposium for state and local reparations is the signature event for the local reparations movement. In 2025 the symposium brought together more than 275 attendees from over 60 localities and more than 80 reparations initiatives to hear from over 50 speakers in 30 sessions on topics including policy design, interfaith partnerships, technology, communication, legal strategies and allyship. The 2025 keynote speaker was macarthur fellow tonika lewis johnson. Attendees also participated in a bus tour, a town hall session, live toolkit sessions, reports from each of the four regions, and an awards dinner recognizing 11 significant leaders and achievements of the past year.
$324,179 spent$25,532 earned by the program38% of program spendingThe national resource center for state and local reparations is a home for the local reparations movement. The resource center hosts reparations-centered exhibits, artist talks, expert panels and public viewings of art and data to engage and inform the dialogue around racial healing and repair. The resource center library houses foundational materials on reparations. In 2025, Firstrepair hosted 12 events, plus 6 additional events hosted by community partners; as of december 31, 2025 the resource center library includes 585 total items, including books, harm reports, and toolkits.
$171,060 spent$14,136 earned by the program20% of program spendingMonthly strategy sessions build a network of informed and empowered local leaders equipped to advocate for reparations policies in their communities. Strategy sessions cover the principles of reparations, democracy and reparations, women in the reparations movement, legal and communication strategies, arts and culture, and more. In 2025 9 national strategies, arts and culture, and more. In 2025, 9 national strategy sessions and 43 regional strategy sessions were held.
$110,721 spent$59,500 earned by the program13% of program spendingFirstrepair curates a range of commissioned arts and culture programming that showcases life with repair including exhibits and showcases, public art, music, documentaries, books, and digital media. In 2025, Firstrepair released the reckoning, a full-length album celebrating black liberation and reparations. Firstrepair made presentations at conferences, hearings, panels, and other speaking events, including the un permanent forum for people of african descent in new york city.
$245,232 spent$51,138 earned by the program29% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $851,192.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $4k to $523k (+13741%).
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.
98% of FIRSTREPAIR’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
Robin Rue Simmons
Executive Director & Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $465k → $605k.
5 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 FIRSTREPAIR’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
FIRSTREPAIR leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
34% 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 FIRSTREPAIR.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 51% · 2023 33% — diversifying over time.
“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.
Where its funders are
FIRSTREPAIR draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $376k 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.
Against its field
FIRSTREPAIR has grown faster than three-quarters of the 431 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 431 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FIRSTREPAIR
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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 FIRSTREPAIR: 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 FIRSTREPAIR?
- FIRSTREPAIR (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,276,938 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($717,850). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRSTREPAIR have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $2,276,938 in grants to FIRSTREPAIR, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRSTREPAIR?
- WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $717,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRSTREPAIR 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 Firstrepair →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 14 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