Illinois · Nonprofit
LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC
LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,362,600 to it, the largest being Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ($265,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,529 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinoisshared fundersportfolio match
- Illinois Bar Foundationportfolio match
- Public Interest Law Initiativeportfolio match
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.
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.
90% of LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 11 funders, grant income rose $10k → $529k.
3 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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: $350k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Legal Aid Chicago). These are real filings, and they are not money LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC raised.
From the IRS filings of LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC’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
LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
55% 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 LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 29% · 2023 24% — 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 LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $540k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 18 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinoisshared fundersportfolio matchIL · backs 41 organizations that share your funders · its grantees resemble your mission
- Illinois Bar Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Public Interest Law Initiativeportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- American College of Bankruptcy Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- National Legal Aid and Defender Associationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Legal Services Corporationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- West Tennessee Legal Services INCportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Indiana Bar Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Shriver Center on Poverty Lawportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Service Employees International Illinois Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Albert Pick Jr Fundshared funderslocalIL · backs 52 organizations that share your funders · funds 130 organizations near you
- The Siragusa Family Foundationshared fundersIL · backs 52 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
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
- Legal Aid Chicago · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC?
- LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC (Illinois) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,362,600 to it, the largest being Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program ($265,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,362,600 in grants to LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC?
- Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program is the largest funder on record, with $265,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 18funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing