Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $387,100 to it, the largest being THE EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION ($230,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $813k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $387k
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation Inc does
Mission
To build the future hospitality industry through career exploration, work force development and scholarships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To provide scholarship assistance and training experiences for worthy individuals who evidence an interest and ambition to study or train for a vocation in food handling or food processing hospitality management business, and to investigate and develop improved food programs, systems and procedures for employment opportunities in the food service, food handling, food processing and hospitality management business.
$123,000 spentof which $123,000 as grants35% of program spendingTo solicit and receive gifts, grants and contributions and establish, fund and maintain financial assistance programs for the benefit of needy employees of illinois restaurants which have been or will be adversely affected by a disaster or suffer medical or other personal hardship.
$5,700 spentof which $5,700 as grants2% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$222,161 spent$58,330 earned by the program63% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $350,861.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.6M to $2.0M (+31%).
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.
71% of ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Jessica Blomquist Lamers
Executive director
Board chair
Adam Barrons
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2021: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $10k → $102k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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: $380k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL 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 RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% — broadly stable.
“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
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $102k 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.
Against its field
ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL 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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
53%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Illinois Restaurant Association · exempt
- Illinois Restauranteurs PAC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL 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 RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC?
- ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $387,100 to it, the largest being THE EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION ($230,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $387,100 in grants to ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC?
- THE EMERIL LAGASSE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $230,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL 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.
Play a game about who funds Illinois Restaurant Association Educational →
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 4 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