Illinois · Nonprofit
I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION
I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,999,368 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($634,321). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $5.4M
What I Car Education Foundation does
Mission
The I-car education foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting collision repair educational programs, schools, and students to create qualified, entry-level employees and connect them with an array of career opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
The in-kind donation process has been transitioned to a web-based platform, donation exchange, to expand its reach and improve efficiency. Previously managed manually, the donation process is now streamlined by the new online platform for both donors and schools, making participation easier and more accessible.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
The collision repair education foundation transforms collision repair education by distributing vital in-kind product donations. By providing schools with vehicles, tools, software licenses, and consumables, the foundation ensures students have the resources to become skilled, industry-ready technicians. Our innovative donation exchange platform revolutionizes access, directly linking schools to generous donors and enabling future technicians to train with the latest equipment. The school benchmark award program drives excellence in collision repair education. By delivering direct funding to career technical education (cte) collision programs, the foundation empowers schools to acquire cutting-edge equipment and maintain alignment with rapidly evolving industry standards, ensuring students receive best-in-class training.the scholarship program fuels the next generation of collision repair leaders. By awarding transformative scholarships to collision students, the foundation removes financial barriers to program participation. By covering crucial expenses such as tuition, tools, and books, these scholarships unlock opportunities and help talented individuals thrive in an essential…
$11,945,397 spentof which $11,376,310 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $11,945,397.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.9M to $6.4M (+31%).
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.
99% of I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Brandon Eckenrode
Executive director
Board chair
Brenda Hogen
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $27k → $307k.
8 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 87% 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: $1.5M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair). These are real filings, and they are not money I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
87% 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 I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 78% · 2019 81% · 2020 62% · 2021 81% · 2022 58% · 2023 66% — 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
40% of I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION'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
87% of I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION'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 $269k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M 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
I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $2.0M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 366 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION
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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
31%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 30 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION: 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 I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,999,368 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($634,321). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 87% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,999,368 in grants to I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $634,321 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like I CAR EDUCATION FOUNDATION 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 12 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