Illinois · Nonprofit
MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION
MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,297,474 to it, the largest being THE ALLSTATE FOUNDATION ($1,545,250). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 128
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $6.9M
What Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation does
Mission
Mikva challenge develops youth to be empowered, informed, and active citizens who will promote a just and equitable society. Through its work, mikva challenge looks to build a stronger, inclusive democracy that values youth voice. Through its youth programs and training for educators, mikva challenge serves 300,000 middle and high school age students located in illinois, washington dc metro area and 12 additional partner sites across the country.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Youth policy making councils- mikva's youth policy making councils empower high school aged youth in each of our chapter sites to conduct research on key issues in their school district and city government. Council participants then make recommendations to city leaders and other public officials and partner with them on implementation and ongoing evaluation.
$1,678,826 spentof which $200,762 as grants38% of program spendingCurricula, coaching and event support for civic educators-mikva's teacher-facing work provides educators in its chapter and partner sites with civic engagement curricula, professional development, coaching, and support to organize local events for youth in their school or district. Collectively, these supports help teachers transform their classrooms and schools into spaces in which youth build community with and develop empathy for their peers; develop critical thinking skills; practice collaboration; and take informed action to address the issues they care about most.
$1,733,898 spentof which $172,457 as grants$1,145,292 earned by the program40% of program spendingNational youth civic covenings-as mikva continues to expand to serve youth in more cities across america, our national youth civic convenings (such as soapbox nation and our youth summit) bring young people from different backgrounds together to share their own experiences, learn from and develop empathy for each other, and work together to develop plans to create change in their own communities once they return home.
$539,527 spentof which $95,413 as grants$237,800 earned by the program12% of program spendingPublic service internships-mikva's summer fellows program provides youth with the opportunity to spend six weeks working in the offices of elected officials & other key political leaders. It is a paid internship program that helps youth gain real-world public sector work experiences that are often otherwise inaccessible and brings youth voice directly into local government offices.
$425,622 spent10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,377,873.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.3M to $5.6M (+30%).
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 7% · 2023 21% · 2024 15% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
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
Vernee Green
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Mark Rosenberg
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $694k → $2.0M.
16 of 128 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 128 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
MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
26% 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 MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 38% · 2019 31% · 2020 34% · 2021 14% · 2022 24% · 2023 23% — 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
33% of MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
59% of MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT 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
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT 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 MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION?
- MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 128 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,297,474 to it, the largest being THE ALLSTATE FOUNDATION ($1,545,250). 77 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 128 organizations giving $15,297,474 in grants to MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION, 77 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION?
- THE ALLSTATE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,545,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT 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 Mikva Challenge Grant →
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 128 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