Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,716,063 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,841,615). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.1M
- Funders on record
- 100
- Grants received
- $27M
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Illinois Policy Institute does
Mission
The institute is a free market oriented think tank dedicated to gathering, disseminating, and educating illinois constituents on local, state, and federal public policy issues facing illinois.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Illinois Policy Institute conducts research on a variety of issues, including fiscal matters, education policy, and government reform. The institute shares its findings with relevant audiences via policy papers, media appearances, speaking engagements, and other public forums. All of he institute's research is designed to better educate and benefit illinois residents, taxpayers, media, and government officials on the policies confronting illinois.
$5,236,368 spentof which $505,299 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,236,368.
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 $6.9M to $2.8M (−59%).
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 ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
John Tillman
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 46 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $2.9M.
17 of 100 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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: $1.6M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Government Accountability Alliance). These are real filings, and they are not money ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE raised.
From the IRS filings of ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 100 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 POLICY INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 59%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
69% 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 POLICY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 70% · 2018 65% · 2019 85% · 2020 37% · 2021 55% · 2022 62% · 2023 13% — 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
54% of ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE'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
65% of ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE'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 $9.5M that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 12 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 POLICY INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 31 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Government Accountability Alliance · exempt
- Iron Light Inc · corp_trust
- Bearing Tree Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE: 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 POLICY INSTITUTE?
- ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 100 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,716,063 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($9,841,615). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 100 organizations giving $26,716,063 in grants to ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE, 74 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $9,841,615 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 100 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