Illinois · Nonprofit
INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION
INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,600,027 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($5,000,000). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 89
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $7.7M
What Inner-City Computer Stars Foundation does
Mission
I.c.stars provides paid 4-month technology training to low-income adults, followed by 20 months of support. Through project-based learning and employer partnerships, participants gain technical skills, professional development, and industry connections to launch it careers. Our comprehensive approach includes leadership development and wraparound support services. Since 1999, the program has transformed participants into successful tech professionals, entrepreneurs, and homeowners while helping employers embrace non-traditional talent.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
During the four-month stub year, I.c.stars provided intensive workforce development training to 72 participants across chicago, milwaukee, and kansas cityincluding 12 learners in the I.c.moms cohortadvancing pathways to economic mobility through technology and leadership education.participants completed a 14-week project-based curriculum focused on developing tech solutions while gaining durable skills such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and adaptability. The program emphasized employer engagement and social capital development through mentorship and networking opportunities.following the initial training, graduates entered a 20-month residency program offering continued support in employment readiness, barrier reduction, and attainment of industry-recognized credentials.approximately 90 volunteers contributed to learner success by facilitating mock interviews and job shadowing experiences, providing valuable industry insights.I.c.stars also hosted three major tech ecosystem events, including a 25th anniversary gala, collectively engaging approximately 650 attendees. Additionally, the organization led a hackathon focused on black maternal health in partnership with…
$1,918,756 spent$279,437 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,918,756.
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 $2.6M to $7.2M (+181%).
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: 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
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
Karin Norington-Reaves
CEO
Board chair
Richard Linden
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 39 funders, grant income rose $300k → $8.4M.
20 of 89 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 89 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
INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
72% 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 INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 85% · 2019 29% · 2020 19% · 2021 17% · 2022 14% · 2023 59% — growing more concentrated.
“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
39% of INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
57% of INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION'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 $9.4M that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 21 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 441 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 441 employment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Ic Stars Staffing LLC · disregarded
- Ic Stars Milwaukee LLC · disregarded
- Ic Stars - Chicago LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION: 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 INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION?
- INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,600,027 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($5,000,000). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 89 organizations giving $21,600,027 in grants to INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION 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 Inner-City Computer Stars →
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 89 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