Illinois · Nonprofit
ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $6,000 to it, the largest being Advanced Technology Alliance ($6,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.7M
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $6k
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What Illinois Retail Merchants Association does
Mission
To conduct a commercial, industrial, or trade association for the benefit of persons engaged in retail trade in the state of illinois.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The association conducted various government relations activities to support public policies enabling the free market system to operate efficiently and oppose those that hinder it. Activities conducted related to state laws and regulations affecting areas such as business liability, consumer fraud, credit and finance, education, environment and utilities, food liquor & tobacco, healthcare, loss prevention, personnel, regulations and licensing, taxes, and transportation.
The association sponsored group purchasing programs for members that provide favorable vendor pricing and services to members in such areas as electricity and gas purchases.
The association communicated on an ongoing basis with members to keep them aware of legislative issues. It published a monthly newsletter ("retail register") during the year. It published a weekly newsletter, "this week in springfield" during the illinois legislative session. Italso published a monthly newsletter "121" related to chicago legislative developments. During legislative session, it also conducted a weekly government relations call with members to discuss legislative and administrative proposals of interest to retailers.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $3.8M to $4.9M (+27%).
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: 2023 6% · 2024 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Robert Karr
President/CEO
Board chair
Ashli Nelson
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
Left out of every figure on this page: $20k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Retail Industry Leaders Association Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION raised.
From the IRS filings of ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION’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.
Where its funders are
ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 1 state in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Organizations like ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION
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.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Illinois Retail Merchants Association Education Foundation · exempt
- Irma Retail Service Corporation · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION: 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 RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION?
- ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $6,000 to it, the largest being Advanced Technology Alliance ($6,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $6,000 in grants to ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION.
- Who is the largest funder of ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION?
- Advanced Technology Alliance is the largest funder on record, with $6,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION 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 Retail Merchants Association →
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 1 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