Illinois · Nonprofit
LIVE FREE CHICAGO
LIVE FREE CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,475,828 to it, the largest being FAITH IN ACTION NETWORK ($467,146). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $4.5M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Live Free Chicago does
Mission
Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and public safety the organization drives systemic change to reduce violence improve police accountability and invest in community-led solutions.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Community Healing Resource Centers (CHRC) Program (JulyDecember 2024): From July through December 2024, the CHRC Program delivered substantial community impact, holding 246 community outreach events that reached 6,653 people and 210 community healing events that engaged an additional 4,703 participants. The program completed 363 case-management intakes and 329 mental-health referrals. During this period, the program also underwent key infrastructure and leadership transitions, including onboarding a new CHRC Director, hosting an in-person CHRC retreat for staff and Executive Directors, and redesigning the mental health access process by introducing a dedicated mental health service coordinator and hiring a Mental Health CHRC Network Coordinator. The South Suburbs CHRC site was successfully transitioned to Victory Church in Park Forest, IL, and the team co-planned and participated in the Gather of Communities annual event at UIC. All CHRC Executive Directors and site staff completed the 3-Day Organizing Training, and the program maintained consistent service despite fiscal uncertainty and payment delays from the funder. Live Free Illinois finalized outstanding FY2024 funder issues…
$1,290,703 spent$1,315,072 earned by the program62% of program spendingIllinois coalition to end permanent punishments (endpp.org): expanded organizational capacity and public awareness in 2024. Passed the free act, secured funding relationships, and advanced legislative reforms. Developed a replicable advocacy model integrating research, organizing, policy, and arts.
$431,655 spent$567,532 earned by the program21% of program spendingORGANIZING AND POLICY: In 2024, Live Free Illinois advanced statewide organizing and policy efforts by advocating for the passage of Clean Slate and the Homicide Data Act, as well as supporting the expansion of the Community Healing Resource Center Network. The organization convened more than 250 faith leaders from across the state, conducted hundreds of one-on-one meetings with community leaders, and worked with over 130 congregations to strengthen grassroots engagement. Live Free Illinois also amplified narrative change efforts on public safety and criminal justice reform through coverage in local and national media.
$262,805 spent$168,000 earned by the program13% of program spendingDecarceration Fellowship: During the reporting period, Live Free Illinois launched Cohort 3 of the Decarceration Fellowship and expanded its model to include engagement with fellows during pre-incarceration. The fellowship also began developing a structured post-incarceration support period to ensure stronger continuity of care, leadership development, and long-term impact for justice-impacted participants.
$82,333 spent$55,969 earned by the program4% of program spendingAll other program services.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,067,496.
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.
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 $1.1M to $1.8M (+61%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 3% · 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. 0 of the last 5 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $180k → $1.0M.
6 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 LIVE FREE CHICAGO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
LIVE FREE CHICAGO has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
53% 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 LIVE FREE CHICAGO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 67% · 2021 36% · 2022 20% · 2023 17% — 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.
How long its funders stay
25% of LIVE FREE CHICAGO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
LIVE FREE CHICAGO draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $643k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 LIVE FREE CHICAGO
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
96% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LIVE FREE CHICAGO: 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 LIVE FREE CHICAGO?
- LIVE FREE CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,475,828 to it, the largest being FAITH IN ACTION NETWORK ($467,146). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LIVE FREE CHICAGO have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $4,475,828 in grants to LIVE FREE CHICAGO, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LIVE FREE CHICAGO?
- FAITH IN ACTION NETWORK is the largest funder on record, with $467,146 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LIVE FREE CHICAGO 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 Live Free Chicago →
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 40 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