Illinois · Nonprofit
KESHET
KESHET (Illinois) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,876,058 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($6,298,185). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 184
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $25M
What Keshet does
Mission
Keshet is one of a few organizations in the u.s. Where kids with disabilities can begin programs at the age of three and continue throughout adulthood. Keshet ensures that people with disabilities have the opportunity to experience the activities that define growth and development-graduating from kindergarten, playing on a sports team, finding a job, getting a first apartment and more. Keshet provides these opportunities in inclusive, community settings.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Keshet manages three schools and three extended school year programs from preschool through transition. Using a curriculum that focuses on academics and daily living skills, Keshet prepares students to lead independent lives. Educators and therapists work hand-in-hand to provide highly individualized instruction and therapies to meet the unique needs of each student. Keshet's schools do not have specific criteria for acceptance, which results in serving students with complex needs, who often have very limited school options.
$4,160,102 spent$4,289,105 earned by the program41% of program spendingKeshet's most significant recreation program is summer camp. Each year, approximately 200 kids, teens and young adults with disabilities experience summer fun and friendships alongside their typically developing peers at 15 day and overnight camps. These inclusive camp programs encourage social growth, emotional development, self-confidence, communication skills, and, of course, fun.
$1,414,567 spentof which $79,983 as grants$746,290 earned by the program14% of program spendingAt Keshet, opportunities for adults include day program, vocational support and four group homes. The goal of these programs is to provide meaningful lives for adults with disabilities within their home communities. Services are tailored to meet each individual's needs. There are currently 58 adults enrolled in the day program and/or residential services.
$3,906,911 spentof which $21,028 as grants$3,344,687 earned by the program39% of program spendingRecreational programs
$593,928 spentof which $8,465 as grants$314,425 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,075,508.
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 2023 to 2024, from $18M to $31M (+74%).
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 18% · 2022 10% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Jennifer Phillips
CEO/president
Board chair
Michelle Friedman
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 68 funders, grant income rose $652k → $2.1M.
21 of 184 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 KESHET’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 184 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
KESHET has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
65% 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 KESHET.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 27% · 2019 16% · 2020 16% · 2021 22% · 2022 23% · 2023 28% — 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.
How long its funders stay
49% of KESHET's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
52% of KESHET'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 $8.5M that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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.
Organizations like KESHET
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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 1 related entity
- Keshet 799 Central Holdings LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KESHET: 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 KESHET?
- KESHET (Illinois) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,876,058 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($6,298,185). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does KESHET have?
- IRS filings report 184 organizations giving $17,876,058 in grants to KESHET, 116 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KESHET?
- JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO is the largest funder on record, with $6,298,185 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KESHET 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 184 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