Illinois · Nonprofit
NEIGHBORSPACE
NEIGHBORSPACE (Illinois) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,209,530 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($1,416,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 51
- Grants received
- $5.2M
- Net assets
- $8.8M
What Neighborspace does
Mission
Neighborspace is a nonprofit urban land trust dedicated to preserving community gardens in chicago, illinois as locally managed assets available for all to enjoy.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Neighborspace continues to assist dozens of block clubs, church groups and neighborhood associations who have set out to reclaim the unused lots in their communities accross chicago. Out of fields of weeds they create rows of vegetables. Out of places used for dumping garbage they create places to reconnect with nature. Unfortunately, many of these urban oases disappear quickly or are lost forever due to redevelopment or lack of resources. This is where Neighborspace comes in. As chicago's nonprofit land trust for community gardens they are here to ensure that these community-driven efforts are not fleeting; that the community's hard work and vision lives on, especially in those areas with the least amount of open space. Since 1996 Neighborspace has been able to preserve over 120 neighborhood gardens, each one a unique expression of the community that created it. In 2024 Neighborspace will continue to grow. They are working to protect visionary community garden across the city, in south shore, austin, avondale, little village and beyond.
$1,641,530 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,641,530.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2019 to 2020, from $6.3M to $7.2M (+13%).
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: 2018 61% · 2019 48% · 2020 52% · 2021 49% · 2022 30% · 2023 48% · 2024 64%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of NEIGHBORSPACE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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
Benjamin R Helphand
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $270k → $559k.
8 of 51 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 NEIGHBORSPACE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 51 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
NEIGHBORSPACE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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 NEIGHBORSPACE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 45% · 2019 43% · 2020 36% · 2021 26% · 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
45% of NEIGHBORSPACE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
92% of NEIGHBORSPACE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
NEIGHBORSPACE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like NEIGHBORSPACE
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 NEIGHBORSPACE: 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 NEIGHBORSPACE?
- NEIGHBORSPACE (Illinois) receives grants from 51 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,209,530 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($1,416,000). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NEIGHBORSPACE have?
- IRS filings report 51 organizations giving $5,209,530 in grants to NEIGHBORSPACE, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEIGHBORSPACE?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $1,416,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEIGHBORSPACE 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 Neighborspace →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 51 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