Illinois · Nonprofit
LUCKY JEFFERSON
LUCKY JEFFERSON (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,500 to it, the largest being IFF ($50,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $89k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $78k
- Net assets
- $29k
What Lucky Jefferson does
Mission
Lucky Jefferson is a literary nonprofit dedicated to amplifying the voices of modern readers through publishing, education, and community programming. The organization publishes print literary works, compensates 100% of contributors at fair rates, and provides free educational workshops in poetry, media literacy, and visual storytelling. Lucky Jefferson prioritizes writers and artists historically excluded from mainstream publishing including BIPOC, incarcerated, disabled, and multilingual creators.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Publishing Lucky Jefferson published 4 literary works in 2025 including Cataclysma, Fissure, Estallido, and Making the World Soft. 69 contributors were published and compensated, including 18 incarcerated writers and artists across 3 carceral institutions.
$38,482 spentof which $600 as grants56% of program spendingHosted 13 free workshops including 6 virtual poetry workshops reaching 20+ states and 15+ countries, 3 media literacy workshops, and 4 in-person zine workshops serving 77 total participants.
$8,266 spent12% of program spendingPhotography Fellowship and Exhibition Description: Awarded first Photography Fellowship to Englewood photographer Brittany Norment in partnership with Buddy. Fellowship included mentorship, editorial support, and equipment access. Culminated in the Everyday Monuments exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center.
$15,475 spent22% of program spendingLaunched 15 West a resident and volunteer-powered neurodiverse-first community newsroom covering Chicagos West Side and neighboring suburbs. Fiscally sponsored program of Lucky Jefferson supported by Cook County Digital Equity Impact Grant and The Field Foundation.
$6,664 spent10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $68,887.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
NaBeela Washington
President, Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 LUCKY JEFFERSON’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 4 of 5 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
LUCKY JEFFERSON leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
87% 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 LUCKY JEFFERSON.
“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
100% of LUCKY JEFFERSON's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
LUCKY JEFFERSON runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like LUCKY JEFFERSON
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.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LUCKY JEFFERSON: 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 LUCKY JEFFERSON?
- LUCKY JEFFERSON (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,500 to it, the largest being IFF ($50,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LUCKY JEFFERSON have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $77,500 in grants to LUCKY JEFFERSON.
- Who is the largest funder of LUCKY JEFFERSON?
- IFF is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LUCKY JEFFERSON 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 2025–2025), and the filings of 5 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