Illinois · Nonprofit
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,317,988 to it, the largest being ELIZABETH MORSE GENIUS CHARITABLE TRUST ($640,782). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $7.5M
What Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance does
Mission
The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance inspires, educates and provokes exploration through innovative programs and experiences in one of the nation's largest and finest plant conservatories. The conservatory changes lives through the power of nature. The alliance provides educational programming, visitor services and community engagement services to the garfield park conservatory and local community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education programs: provide nature and environmental educational programs and activities for school age children and docent training programs for youth.
$874,168 spent$131,583 earned by the program47% of program spendingVisitor services: alliance creates seasonal events and educational festivals including: harvest day, sweet saturdays, creatures of the night, morning glories, fiddleheads and wild wednesdays for visitors and families with young children. Alliance presents educational workshops on gardening including worm bin culture, recycling, composting and other sustainable practices.
$872,381 spent47% of program spendingCommunity programs: alliance works with community groups to provide technical assistance, training and plant materials for community horticulture and garden projects and provides plant material for community gardens. The alliance grows and contributes fresh produce to local farmer's markets to ensure access to fresh and high quality food. The alliance supports community access to conservatory meeting rooms and facilities for meetings, arts and culture performances and provides resources for local educational and performing arts organizations.
$116,400 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,862,949.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 $5.2M to $6.7M (+28%).
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: 2017 31% · 2018 31% · 2019 27% · 2020 34% · 2021 39% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% · 2024 13% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE’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. 0 of the last 9 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
John Harris
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $106k → $1.2M.
9 of 56 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE’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
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 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 GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 25% · 2019 24% · 2020 22% · 2021 31% · 2022 50% · 2023 31% — growing more concentrated.
“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
50% of GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
78% of GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $980k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $183k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$153k
- National Endowment for the Arts$30k
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 GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE
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
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
87%
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 GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: 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 GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE?
- GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE (Illinois) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,317,988 to it, the largest being ELIZABETH MORSE GENIUS CHARITABLE TRUST ($640,782). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $4,317,988 in grants to GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE?
- ELIZABETH MORSE GENIUS CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $640,782 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE 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 Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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