Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC
ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,668,564 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,750,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.6M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Illinois Humanities Council Inc does
Mission
Fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
For 50 years, illinois humanities has worked to activate the humanities through free public programs, grants, and educational opportunities that spark conversation, foster reflection, build community, and strengthen civic engagement for everyone in illinois. Our vision is an illinois where the humanities are central to making the state more just, creative, and connected. Recent impact: -9,000 illinoisans served and 96 grants awarded to community-based organizations -4,940 illinoisans in 43 counties engaged with culture and history through free road scholars speakers presentations - 867 youth poets statewide participated in our annual gwendolyn brooks youth poetry awards
$2,750,113 spent$4,505 earned by the program82% of program spendingOur grants support vibrant cultural work statewide and increase illinoisans' access to the transformative power of the public humanities.
$605,738 spentof which $605,738 as grants18% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,355,851.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $2.2M to $4.5M (+108%).
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: 2018 48% · 2019 73% · 2020 54% · 2021 74% · 2022 50% · 2023 85% · 2024 66%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Gabrielle Lyon
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 15 funders, grant income fell $1.1M → $843k.
7 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 26% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
42% 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 38% · 2019 80% · 2020 55% · 2021 62% · 2022 31% · 2023 53% — 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
34% of ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
51% of ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15.8M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$15.8M
- National Endowment for the Arts$40k
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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC: 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 HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC?
- ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC (Illinois) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,668,564 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($2,750,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $10,668,564 in grants to ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 46 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