Illinois · Nonprofit
HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC
HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC (Illinois) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,857,904 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,882,450). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.3M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $8.9M
- Net assets
- $10.0M
What Heart of Illinois United Way Inc does
Mission
To increase the organized capacity of people in central Illinois to care for one another.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Financial Stability Impact Area leads to increased independence. The Heart of Illinois United Way is focused on ensuring individuals and families achieve financial stability. To ensure people can thrive, our work focuses on providing opportunities to get them on their feet again and helping during emergencies and crises. United Way funded financial stability programs provide: Basic needs and support for housing and more, Work-force skills to improve employability, life-skills and financial management education and legal assistance to address individual and family crises. Here are just a few ways Heart of Illinois United Way programs are positively impacting financial stability in central Illinois: 95% of adults who successfully completed United Way funded job training or coaching programs improved their employment readiness, 98% of adults who participated in United Way funded life-skills programs maximized their independence, and 96% of low-income adults who participated in United Way funded housing assistance programs improved their safety and wellness to maximize their independence by utilizing community resources.
$2,279,357 spentof which $1,971,124 as grants37% of program spendingEducation Impact Area - Quality education is essential to earning a livable wage. The Heart of Illinois United Way works to ensure that our children are ready to succeed when they enter kindergarten and people of all ages are prepared for work, post secondary education and life. By preparing children to enter school and providing them ongoing resources throughout their education, they will be able to reach their academic and career potential. United Way funded education programs provide: Ages Pre-K through adult with literacy success, after-school tutoring that leads to grade promotion, mentoring to improve grades and social-emotional skills and parenting skills to build healthy parent-child relationships. Here are just a few ways Heart of Illinois United Way Community Impact Fund programs are positively impacting education in central Illinois: 92% of preschool students enrolled in United Way funded programs developed and maintained core skills in the areas of social-emotional learning, literacy, and math, 91% of youth in United Way funded tutoring and after-school programs achieved grade-level academic success in reading and math, 98% of adults 16 and older increased their…
$1,589,957 spentof which $1,375,204 as grants26% of program spendingHealth Impact Area - Access to healthcare promotes wellness for all ages. The Heart of Illinois United Way is focused on ensuring the people of central Illinois have access to quality, affordable health care. The health and well-being of our citizens is a strong indicator of the health of our community. United Way funded health programs provide: Nutrition, physical fitness, and substance abuse education to improve healthy choices, screenings and treatment for physical and mental health needs to improve overall health, support and crisis intervention to improve individual and family stability. Here are just a few ways Heart of Illinois United Way Community Impact Fund programs are positively impacting health in central Illinois: 97% of families receiving United Way funded case management services improved their health and well-being through coordination of services and community support, 82% of youth and adults who participated in United Way funded health education classes increased their knowledge about healthy eating, exercise and more, 92% of youth and adults who received treatment from United Way funded health programs improved their physical health
$1,431,381 spentof which $1,237,683 as grants23% of program spendingSupport Student Success (S3) is a collaborative program between Heart of Illinois United Way and area schools to promote student success via counseling, school programs, mentoring students in kindergarten through middle school. 2-1-1- is a 24/7 information and referral call center with a website for information the community can access. Callers can get locations of assistance in their community for housing, food, utilities, counseling services, or other information as needed. Donor designated gifts are sent to 501c3 charities according to donor's wishes. These funds are used to support program services at each charity. Heart of Illinois United Way sends donor directed contributions to area 501c3 organizations.
$924,768 spentof which $799,285 as grants15% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,225,463.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
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 $14M to $16M (+10%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 8% · 2023 5% · 2024 4% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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
Sid Ruckriegel
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $897k → $1.1M.
17 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.3M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC raised.
From the IRS filings of HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
78% 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 HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 34% · 2019 24% · 2020 17% · 2021 40% · 2022 25% · 2023 21% — 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
47% of HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
54% of HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC'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 $4.1M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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.
Government funding HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.1M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$3.1M
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 HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
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 HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC: 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 HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC?
- HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC (Illinois) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,857,904 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,882,450). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $8,857,904 in grants to HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,882,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HEART OF ILLINOIS UNITED WAY INC 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 FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 55 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