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Illinois · Nonprofit

ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES

ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,064,902 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($1,734,449). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$381k
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$2.1M
Net assets
$5.0M
6/6 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Illinois Growth Enterprises does

Mission

To educate and promote the welfare of the developmentally disabled in northern illinois.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Illinois Growth Enterprises (ige), an affiliate of bridgeway, inc, is a not-for-profit entity that supports the provision of comprehensive vocational services to persons with disabilities in winnebago and boone counties in illinois. The objective of ige, through bridgeway, is to serve any person who can benefit from its array of services without regard to disability, dependent status, race, color, national origin or age.

    $212,741 spentof which $180,344 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $212,741.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($260k) Expenses 100 ($214k) Net assets 100 ($3.3M)2018 Revenue 177 ($460k) Expenses 62 ($133k) Net assets 108 ($3.6M)2019 Revenue 148 ($385k) Expenses 67 ($144k) Net assets 114 ($3.8M)2020 Revenue 123 ($319k) Expenses 84 ($179k) Net assets 117 ($3.9M)2021 Revenue 258 ($669k) Expenses 115 ($247k) Net assets 138 ($4.6M)2022 Revenue 148 ($384k) Expenses 118 ($252k) Net assets 127 ($4.2M)2023 Revenue 132 ($342k) Expenses 113 ($242k) Net assets 133 ($4.4M)2024 Revenue 155 ($402k) Expenses 116 ($249k) Net assets 142 ($4.7M)2025 Revenue 147 ($381k) Expenses 120 ($256k) Net assets 150 ($5.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (147)Expenses (120)Net assets (150)

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 $3.9M to $4.6M (+18%).

$3.3M
$3.6M
$3.8M
$3.9M
$4.6M
$4.2M
$4.4M
$4.7M
$5.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$46k
’17
$326k
’18
$241k
’19
$140k
’20
$423k
’21
$132k
’22
$101k
’23
$154k
’24
$125k
’25
79
months of
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

William Nelson

CEO

Board chair

Michael Wilcop

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed1311111198889
Joined·+0+2+3+3+0+0+0+1
No longer listed·22351000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $183k → $225k.

1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 GROWTH ENTERPRISES’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 GROWTH ENTERPRISES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 84% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

84% 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 GROWTH ENTERPRISES.

84%
largest funder
97%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 93% · 2019 88% · 2020 63% · 2021 94% · 2022 95% · 2023 94% — 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

84% of ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES'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 $330k that is directly attributable, 93% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
WI

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 17%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

80%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Part of a family of 13 related entities

  • Bridgeway Inc · exempt
  • Bridgeway Foundation · exempt
  • Bridgeway Training Services Inc · exempt
  • McRc Rehabilitation Inc · exempt
  • Bridgeway Housing Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 GROWTH ENTERPRISES?
ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,064,902 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($1,734,449). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $2,064,902 in grants to ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES?
Community Foundation of Northern IL is the largest funder on record, with $1,734,449 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ILLINOIS GROWTH ENTERPRISES 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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing