Illinois · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES
FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,611,806 to it, the largest being BOBOLINK FOUNDATION ($3,355,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $8.6M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Friends of the Forest Preserves does
Mission
The organization unites people to protect, promote, and care for the public outdoor spaces of cook county, illinois. Their multifaceted approach ensures equitable access to nature, restores threatened native habitats, and advocates for policies that preserve regional green space.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Conservation corps: friends directly works to increase equitable accessand engagement within the forest preserves and broaden community involvement in habitat restoration through its award-winningconservation corps workforce development program. The conservationcorps program breaks down barriers to accessing technical training andemployment in the environmental sector and since 2007 has employed,trained, and mentored more than 2,350 adults and youth. Since 2020alone, youth and adult crews have helped restore 1,790 acres.
$1,793,857 spent$699,255 earned by the program53% of program spendingEngagement: friends engages people directly in nature programmingthrough its engagement programs, which includes hosting free, publicevents for residents local to a forest preserve, such as morning yogaor bird walks. These events are informed by the results of outreachfriends conducts in surrounding neighborhoods, and are often developedin collaboration with community leaders, who are paid a stipend tosupport event planning and network building. In the past two yearsalone, friends has hosted more than 200 public engagement events andmore than 2,500 participants in positive experiences in the preserves.through this community engagement work and other programming, thefriends program team made up of staff and volunteers has developedexpertise in community organizing, education, conservation, ecology,
$858,972 spent$2,500 earned by the program25% of program spendingSummer programs: every summer, friends facilitates two summerinternship programs: forest preserve experience (fpe) and beaubienwoods youth ambassadors (byoa). Beginning in 2016, the fpe youthconservation corps program has engaged approximately 70-150 teens peryear, offering teens paid summer positions to improve the health of thepreserves through conservation projects. The byoa program, which isspecific to beaubien woods, employed 9 high school-age students toengage in several activities while gaining exposure to the forestpreserves and jobs in conservation.
$747,175 spent$792,558 earned by the program22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,400,004.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.5M to $2.3M (+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: 2019 5% · 2020 17% · 2021 39% · 2022 7% · 2023 4% · 2024 6% · 2025 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% 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
Benjamin M Cox
Executive director
Board chair
Thomas Greenhaw Jr
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $672k → $1.8M.
12 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 FOREST PRESERVES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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 FOREST PRESERVES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
39% 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 FOREST PRESERVES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 53% · 2019 60% · 2020 32% · 2021 26% · 2022 23% · 2023 44% — 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
54% of FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
66% of FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 FOREST PRESERVES's funding base is broadening — from 8 funders to 31 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.9M on record.
- Department of Commerce$1.9M
- Environmental Protection Agency$591k
- Department of Agriculture$405k
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 FOREST PRESERVES
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
99%
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 FOREST PRESERVES: 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 FOREST PRESERVES?
- FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,611,806 to it, the largest being BOBOLINK FOUNDATION ($3,355,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $8,611,806 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES?
- BOBOLINK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,355,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES 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 Forest Preserves →
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 56 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