Illinois · Nonprofit
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,171,727 to it, the largest being JTB FAMILY FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 73 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $60M
- Funders on record
- 129
- Grants received
- $29M
- Net assets
- $218M
What Northern Illinois University Foundation does
Mission
The niu foundation's mission is to energize and connect the private sector with the niu community to secure and steward resources that support the future and growth of niu.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The niu foundation: advancing niu, moving forward the niu foundation is a not-for-profit entity that engages friends and alumni and secures and manages gifts in support of northern illinois university. The niu foundation and division of university advancement align the philanthropic enterprise with institutional priorities to drive strategic, transformational growth. Creating life-changing opportunities for our hardworking students and faculty is the niu foundation's highest priority. Each year, thousands of alumni and donors join us in this endeavor by providing gifts that support scholarships, programs, and facilities. Fy25 was a historic year, marked by record-setting generosity and the public launch of forward: the campaign for niu. Forward: the campaign for niu on june 14, 2025, hundreds of members of the niu community gathered at the niu convocation center to celebrate the launch of the largest fundraising effort in university history. With a bold $300 million goal, forward is a comprehensive campaign to accelerate student success, empower faculty excellence, and expand niu's regional and global impact. The campaign is anchored by three commitments: expanding…
$13,262,209 spentof which $11,611,951 as grants$1,420,494 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $13,262,209.
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 2024 to 2025, from $184M to $235M (+28%).
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.
83% of NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
John Tierney
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $2.8M.
28 of 129 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 129 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
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
48% 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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 44% · 2019 20% · 2020 13% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 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
49% of NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY 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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
56%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 9 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Alumni Association Travel Program LLC · disregarded
- Northern Illinois University · exempt
- Niu Real Estate Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY 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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
- NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,171,727 to it, the largest being JTB FAMILY FOUNDATION ($10,000,000). 73 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 129 organizations giving $29,171,727 in grants to NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION, 73 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
- JTB FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY 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.
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 129 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