Illinois · Nonprofit
Illinois College of Optometry
Illinois College of Optometry (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,635,560 to it, the largest being LLOYD A FRY FOUNDATION ($500,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $45M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $78M
What Illinois College of Optometry does
Mission
The mission of Illinois College of Optometry is to develop highly qualified clinical optometrists through excellence in optometric education who will strive to "seek that all will receive optimal healthcare".
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
GENERAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AT THE ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF OPTOMETRY (ICO): Classroom instruction for Doctor of Optometry Degree; Continuing Education and Faculty Research serving approximately 480 students per year. ICO's 4-year program is focused entirely on optometry. Our students receive robust clinical experience, including hands-on patient care in the IEI beginning in their very first year. Understanding that being a doctor extends beyond eye care, ICO offers courses in financial literacy, practice management, and other real-world aspects of optometry. Our top-notch resources expose students to tomorrow's technologies and modes of practice.
$20,074,268 spentof which $2,667,783 as grants$26,096,383 earned by the program67% of program spendingCLINIC: The Illinois Eye Institute (IEI) acts as a safety net provider of eye and vision services for the Chicago area, serving diverse patients with complex needs. The clinic received approximately 85,000 patient visits in the previous year (48,000 to providers, 37,000 to optical). The site is a vital community resource for Medicaid and Medicare patients, as well as underinsured and uninsured patients. Specialty areas of the clinic include (but are not limited to) Pediatrics, Developmental Disability Clinics, Binocular Vision Service, Urgent Care, Cornea and Contact Lenses, Glaucoma Care, Retina and Vitreous Care, and Low Vision Care. The IEI acts as a teaching clinic that aides in the education of students as they pursue Doctor of Optometry degrees.
$9,077,055 spent$6,202,975 earned by the program30% of program spendingDORMITORY: The Residential Complex provides affordable and safe on-campus living quarters for optometry students, prospective students, visitors, and their families. The RC hosts events to promote camaraderie and healthy student life. In addition, exam lanes are available in the RC for the exclusive use of its residents.
$676,745 spentof which $96,467 as grants$1,330,322 earned by the program2% of program spendingThe organization receives other program service revenue related to its bookstore, faculty research, student loans and administration of illinois eye institute.
$0 spent$223,116 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,828,068.
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 2020 to 2021, from $102M to $110M (+8%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 14% · 2022 1% · 2023 2% · 2024 1% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
15% of Illinois College of Optometry’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Scott Jens OD FAAO
Chairman of the Board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $131k → $313k.
5 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Illinois College of Optometry’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
Illinois College of Optometry has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
34% 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 Illinois College of Optometry.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 65% · 2018 35% · 2019 43% · 2020 44% · 2021 29% · 2022 29% · 2023 40% — 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
35% of Illinois College of Optometry's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
71% of Illinois College of Optometry's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $764k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Illinois College of Optometry runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Illinois College of Optometry receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.2M on record.
- Department of Defense$3.4M
- Department of Education$1.1M
- Department of Health and Human Services$745k
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 Illinois College of Optometry
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Illinois Eye Institute Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Illinois College of Optometry: 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 Illinois College of Optometry?
- Illinois College of Optometry (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,635,560 to it, the largest being LLOYD A FRY FOUNDATION ($500,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Illinois College of Optometry have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $2,635,560 in grants to Illinois College of Optometry, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Illinois College of Optometry?
- LLOYD A FRY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Illinois College of Optometry 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 Illinois College of Optometry →
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 27 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