Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINI SOLAR CAR
ILLINI SOLAR CAR (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $56,606 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($24,268). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2022
- $38k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $57k
- Net assets
- $2k
What Illini Solar Car does
Mission
Education is an integral component of Illini Solar Car, as participants are taught about clean energy engineering and sustainability. The Company strives to push the limits of integrating renewable energy into everyday life in hope of creating a greener future based on clean, renewable energy. As a college student-run organization, the Company strives to prove that a larger-scale shift to sustainable energy sources is possible.
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Illini Solar Car as a 501(c)(3) is founded in support of the Registered Student Organization of the same name at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This organization benefits over 150 students by providing engineering and business experience that cannot be learned in just a classroom setting.
$41,824 spent81% of program spendingIllini Solar Car competes annually in international solar vehicle competitions. The team competed in the 2022 American Solar Challenge this fiscal year. Over the course of many days, the student-built solar car traveled over 1,000 miles across the United States on solar power alone. During this competition, thousands (estimated) of spectators and locals alike witnessed the solar vehicle, learned about solar energy, and saw a potentially sustainable transportation future. This competition benefits a team of over 30 students, which we house and feed along the route.
$5,994 spent12% of program spendingIn addition to the cost listed above, the American Solar Challenge comes with fees that Illini Solar Car pays in order for our team to be allowed to compete.
$3,603 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2021 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $51,421.
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. 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 $21k to $2k (−90%).
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.
100% of ILLINI SOLAR CAR’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (92% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $8k → $13k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 85% 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 ILLINI SOLAR CAR’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
ILLINI SOLAR CAR leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% 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 ILLINI SOLAR CAR.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 46% · 2023 84% — 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.
Where its funders are
85% of ILLINI SOLAR CAR'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 $8k that is directly attributable, 76% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $48k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
ILLINI SOLAR CAR receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $57k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,054 environment nonprofits under $100k, FY2022
Organizations like ILLINI SOLAR CAR
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.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINI SOLAR CAR: 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 ILLINI SOLAR CAR?
- ILLINI SOLAR CAR (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $56,606 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($24,268). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 85% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ILLINI SOLAR CAR have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $56,606 in grants to ILLINI SOLAR CAR, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINI SOLAR CAR?
- PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND is the largest funder on record, with $24,268 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINI SOLAR CAR 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 Illini Solar Car →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2021–2022), and the filings of 6 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