Illinois · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER
FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER (Illinois) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,150,724 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($960,721). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 78
- Grants received
- $6.2M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Friends of the Chicago River does
Mission
To protect and restore the chicago-calumet river system for all people, water, and wildlife.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Friends' education and outreach programs, such as the chicago river schools network and the mccormick bridgehouse & chicago river museum, are designed to foster awareness, involvement, and a stewardship ethic.
$517,932 spent$75,134 earned by the program26% of program spendingFriends' on the ground projects such as the restoration of river-edge forest preserves and habitat development physically improve the ecological health of the chicago river and demonstrate what is possible in developed and wild reaches of the chicago-calumet river system.
$804,781 spent$44,020 earned by the program41% of program spendingFriends works through public policy and planning efforts that result in long term systemic river improvements and resiliency. They include a focus on water quality and habitat improvement, river-sensitive riverfront development, and establishing a continuous chicago river trail.
$653,659 spent$14,258 earned by the program33% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,976,372.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $2.0M to $3.1M (+58%).
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: 2019 34% · 2020 16% · 2021 24% · 2022 7% · 2023 17% · 2024 13% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Margaret Frisbie
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $106k → $1.1M.
9 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 funders by total. 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
FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
33% 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 FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 41% · 2018 28% · 2019 28% · 2020 29% · 2021 24% · 2022 21% · 2023 24% — 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
57% of FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
52% of FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $734k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER's funding base is broadening — from 12 funders to 40 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.2M on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$2.9M
- Department of Agriculture$195k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$89k
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 FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER: 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 FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER?
- FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER (Illinois) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,150,724 to it, the largest being NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ($960,721). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER have?
- IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $6,150,724 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER, 55 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER?
- NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $960,721 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER 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 Friends of the Chicago River →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 78 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