Illinois · Nonprofit
FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING
FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $697,630 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($132,837). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $645k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $698k
- Net assets
- $469k
What Focus Fairies Mentoring does
Mission
Focus Fairies Mentoring is a community-based nonprofit that empowers and uplifts underserved girls and young women, ages 7 to 21, on Chicago's West and South sides who have experienced vicarious trauma, violence, and systemic inequities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Mentoring & Youth Development: In 2025, Focus Fairies Mentoring (FFM) expanded its healing-centered, relationship-based youth development and mentoring programs across Chicagos South and West Sides. Across all programs, FFM served approximately 150 girls across 12 school and community-based locations, providing consistent access to mentorship, social-emotional learning, leadership development, mental health support, college and career exposure, and positive peer relationships.FFM measured participant progress through pre- and post-program assessments, attendance monitoring, facilitator observations, and program completion benchmarks. In 2025, 95% of participants reported increased self-esteem, 92% reported improved communication and healthier relationships, 88% reported improved confidence, 85% discovered new passions or talents, 73% demonstrated growth in leadership skills, and 55% reported feeling more connected to themselves and their peers. Most significantly, 100% of participants reported feeling seen, valued, and supported.These outcomes reflect FFMs continued commitment to providing underserved girls with consistent, culturally responsive spaces where they can build…
$291,838 spent77% of program spendingBee Girls: In 2025, FFM continued its B.E.E. Girls program for adolescent girls, providing safe and affirming spaces where participants could explore identity, emotional wellness, self-esteem, healthy relationships, leadership, and self-advocacy.Through group mentoring, facilitated workshops, creative expression, leadership activities, and community engagement, participants strengthened the social-emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate adolescence. The program emphasized relationship-building and trusted mentorship while encouraging girls to recognize their strengths, advocate for themselves, establish healthy boundaries, and develop confidence in their ability to lead.B.E.E. Girls also exposed participants to educational, career, leadership, and community opportunities, helping girls begin connecting their interests and talents to their future goals.
$56,242 spent15% of program spendingWhimsical Wonder and Wishes: In 2025, FFM continued its Whimsical Wonders & Wishes (WWW) program for girls ages 713. The program uses play-based, healing-centered learning to help younger girls develop social-emotional skills, positive self-esteem, healthy relationships, self-expression, and resilience.Through structured group sessions, creative activities, mentorship, and social-emotional learning experiences, participants were encouraged to explore their identities, recognize their strengths, communicate their emotions, and develop healthy coping strategies. The program also provided girls with consistent access to trusted adults and safe, joyful spaces where they could feel supported and affirmed.WWW remained an important component of FFMs commitment to intervening early and ensuring girls in under-resourced communities have access to culturally responsive mentorship and emotional wellness supports during critical developmental years.
$31,000 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $379,080.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2023 to 2024, from $281k to $428k (+52%).
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: 2023 33% · 2024 45% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 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
Ciera Bates Chamberlain
Chair & pres
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $21k → $189k.
5 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING’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
FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
50% 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 FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 77% · 2022 63% · 2023 28% — 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.
How long its funders stay
40% of FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 44% 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
67% of FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $268k 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
FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,734 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,734 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING
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
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING: 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 FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING?
- FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $697,630 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($132,837). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $697,630 in grants to FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $132,837 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING 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 Focus Fairies Mentoring →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 18 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing