Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC
ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,822,380 to it, the largest being ROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION ($2,300,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Illinois Press Foundation Inc does
Mission
To promote and protect free expression through educational activities that foster the practice and respect of first amendment principles and values, to enhance the quality of services provided by newspapers to their communities, and to support reading and literacy efforts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Capitol news illinois - the mission of capitol news illinois program is to provide credible and unbiased coverage of state government. Capitol news illinois provides year-round, daily coverage of the legislature, including committee hearings; state agencies and issues; state office holders; and the illinois supreme court and legal matters.
$1,173,903 spent85% of program spendingPromotion of journalism, education & literacy: the foundation is involved in the promotion and welfare of journalism. To achieve this, the foundation holds meetings and seminars for its members, sponsors educational training and mentoring for college students and professors, provides grants for high school journalism programs, and offers college scholarships.
$211,012 spentof which $54,153 as grants$26,633 earned by the program15% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,384,915.
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 2022 to 2023, from $1.6M to $2.4M (+54%).
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.
94% of ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION 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. 4 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.
Chief executive
Jeff Rogers
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $1k → $104k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 PRESS FOUNDATION INC’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 PRESS FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 PRESS FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 88% · 2021 90% · 2022 97% · 2023 48% — 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
86% of ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC'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 $404k that is directly attributable, 64% 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. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 PRESS FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION 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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 PRESS FOUNDATION 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 PRESS FOUNDATION INC?
- ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,822,380 to it, the largest being ROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION ($2,300,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $2,822,380 in grants to ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION INC?
- ROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS PRESS FOUNDATION 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 7 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