Illinois · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES
FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,540,183 to it, the largest being BOBOLINK FOUNDATION ($3,355,000). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
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· 2,184 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- The Siragusa Family Foundationshared funders
- Little Orchard Foundationportfolio match
- John C Bock Foundationportfolio match
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.
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%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
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) — 15% 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
38% 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
72% 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. $1.3M 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 56 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- The Siragusa Family Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 42 organizations that share your funders
- Little Orchard Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- John C Bock Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Morton Arboretumportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Corwith Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- WD Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Covington Charitable Trportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- S & E Bramsen Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Oak Lodge Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Brinson Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 38 organizations that share your funders
- Arie and Ida Crown Memorialshared fundersIL · backs 148 organizations that share your funders
- Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 47 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
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
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
76% 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. 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 $8,540,183 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 $8,540,183 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 56funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing