Illinois · Nonprofit
HOUSING FORWARD
HOUSING FORWARD (Illinois) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,320,018 to it, the largest being ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS IN SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY ($3,794,459). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 95
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $2.5M
What Housing Forward does
Mission
Housing Forward's mission is to transition people from housing crisis to housing stability.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Permanent supportive housing - is an intervention that combines affordable housing assistance with voluntary supportive services for individuals and families who have experienced homelessness and have a documented disability. In 2024, 348 individuals were stabilized in scattered-site apartments. Program outcomes - 96% remained stably housed for one year; 76% increased income between entry and exit.
$10,285,916 spentof which $7,174,980 as grants$497,670 earned by the program71% of program spendingInterim housing - the agency operates two temporary shelter programs emergency shelter and interim housing. The emergency shelter is a year-round 20-bed facility for unhoused men, women and families offering overnight sleeping accommodations, three meals, showers and intake and assessment services need stats here. Interim housing provides 24/7 temporary shelter in a non-congregate setting, 3 meals, case management and wrap around services for up to 50 individuals nightly while awaiting permanent housing. In 2024, the program provided 132 clients with 20,604 nights of shelter and 25,550 meals.
$2,458,874 spentof which $219,502 as grants17% of program spendingDiversion and outreach: diversion and street outreach connect with individuals who are unsheltered or precariously housed. Flexible financial assistance provides creative solutions for helping some stay housed or to relocate with friends or family. A four-person street outreach team engage with persons who are living on the streets or other places not meant for human habitation to provide basic needs, assess for housing and work with the coordinated entry system to connect them to a permanent housing situation. In 2024, 440 individuals received services through street outreach and 294 individuals received services through diversion.
$680,457 spentof which $136,011 as grants5% of program spendingEmployment readiness - help individuals build the skills necessary to gain and keep employment
$34,050 spentof which $80 as grants0% of program spendingWraparound services - provides comprehensive, personalized supports and resources so that individuals and families are able to address the complex issues and challenges that often accompany homelessness and can interfere with obtaining long-term housing stability. These services include behavioral health services, employment services, family support services, financial literacy and budgeting counseling, legal and medical clinic.
$653,644 spentof which $1,823 as grants$331,427 earned by the program4% of program spendingEmergency financial assistance/homeless prevention - the agency provides critical financial interventions to prevent households from imminent risk of eviction, loss of utilities, and to regain housing quickly with security deposits and 1st month's rent.
$452,638 spentof which $189,282 as grants3% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,565,579.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.2M to $19M (+269%).
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 72% · 2018 77% · 2019 76% · 2020 74% · 2021 81% · 2022 81% · 2023 81% · 2024 80%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of HOUSING FORWARD’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Lynda Schueler
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $1.2M.
13 of 95 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 HOUSING FORWARD’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 95 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
HOUSING FORWARD has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 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 HOUSING FORWARD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 65% · 2019 62% · 2020 39% · 2021 11% · 2022 17% · 2023 13% — 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
46% of HOUSING FORWARD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
95% of HOUSING FORWARD's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
HOUSING FORWARD has grown faster than half of the 818 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 818 housing & shelter nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding HOUSING FORWARD receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $43.0M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$40.8M
- Department of Veterans Affairs$2.2M
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 HOUSING FORWARD
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
75% 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
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Hf-Broadview · disregarded
- Hf-Oak Park · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HOUSING FORWARD: 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 HOUSING FORWARD?
- HOUSING FORWARD (Illinois) receives grants from 95 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,320,018 to it, the largest being ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS IN SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY ($3,794,459). 60 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HOUSING FORWARD have?
- IRS filings report 95 organizations giving $12,320,018 in grants to HOUSING FORWARD, 60 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOUSING FORWARD?
- ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS IN SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $3,794,459 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOUSING FORWARD 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 95 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