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Illinois · Nonprofit

FRESHLENS CHICAGO

FRESHLENS CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $180,284 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($105,250). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$260k
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$180k
Net assets
$193k
4/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What Freshlens Chicago does

Mission

Providing educational arts programming to students from under-resourced areas of chicago, giving students an opportunity to develop skills and gain confidence through photography. We promote individual growth, team building, good work habits, and responsibility

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Providing educational arts programming to students from under-resourced areas of chicago, giving students an opportunity to develop skills and gain confidence through photography. We promote individual growth, team building, good work habits, and responsibility

    $189,910 spent$259,747 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $189,910.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20222022 Revenue 100 ($159k) Expenses 100 ($142k) Net assets 100 ($137k)2023 Revenue 140 ($223k) Expenses 117 ($166k) Net assets 142 ($194k)2024 Revenue 114 ($181k) Expenses 131 ($186k) Net assets 137 ($188k)2025 Revenue 163 ($260k) Expenses 175 ($248k) Net assets 141 ($193k)
2022202320242025
Revenue (163)Expenses (175)Net assets (141)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 2022 to 2023, from $137k to $194k (+42%).

$137k
$194k
$192k
$204k
2022202320242025
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.

2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

77% of FRESHLENS CHICAGO’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.

$17k
’22
$57k
’23
−$5k
’24
$12k
’25
9.9
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

Shirley Nannini

Executive director

Board chair

Bailey Moore

Board president

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20232025
Listed1112
Joined··
No longer listed··
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $250 → $51k.

3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 FRESHLENS CHICAGO’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

FRESHLENS CHICAGO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

92% 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 FRESHLENS CHICAGO.

58%
largest funder
92%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2020 92% · 2021 89% · 2022 57% · 2023 98% — broadly stable.

“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

60% of FRESHLENS CHICAGO's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y

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

92% of FRESHLENS CHICAGO'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. Of the $14k that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’20
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $166k 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

FRESHLENS CHICAGO is better cushioned than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin5% · below the median
Months of reserve9.9mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like FRESHLENS CHICAGO

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

77% of spending goes to programs.

Program 77%Management 13%Fundraising 11%

Governance

12
board members
67%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

75%

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 FRESHLENS CHICAGO: 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 FRESHLENS CHICAGO?
FRESHLENS CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $180,284 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($105,250). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does FRESHLENS CHICAGO have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $180,284 in grants to FRESHLENS CHICAGO, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRESHLENS CHICAGO?
The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $105,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRESHLENS CHICAGO 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 Freshlens Chicago →

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 8 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