Illinois · Nonprofit
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,747,070 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($1,395,081). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 64
- Grants received
- $7.7M
- Net assets
- $22M
What Northwestern University Settlement Association does
Mission
Northwestern settlement nurtures, educates, and empowers chicagoans to overcome the root causes of poverty and achieve lasting self-sufficiency - with compassion, dignity, and respect.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Rowe elementary school - northwestern settlement's k-8 public charter school - nurtures, educates, and empowers 685 scholars to overcome systemic barriers and achieve lasting success. In alignment with the settlement's mission, rowe cultivates a culture of high expectations and college readiness, ensuring scholars are equipped to thrive academically and beyond. Many graduates matriculate to selective enrollment high schools, and we strive to match each scholar with their best-fit high school to support long-term success.
$11,181,723 spent$797,223 earned by the program62% of program spendingHouse in the wood camp - northwestern settlement's year-round residential camp in delavan, wi for inner-city chicago youth. Each year, house in the wood serves over 400 children ages 7-17 during its summer camp session. In the spring and fall, house in the wood hosts stem education residencies at its outdoor education center for public school students. Between these programs and the camp's use as a retreat center, 1,500 youth benefit from house in the wood annually. House in the wood is accredited by the american camp association (aca) and received the inaugural aca-illinois gordie kaplan program excellence award in 2015, as well as the aca's national 2016 eleanor p. Eells award for program excellence.
$1,124,478 spentof which $37,695 as grants6% of program spendingAfter school program - guide and enrich the lives of 200 rowe scholars ages 5-12 after school during the school year and all day during the summer. Summer activities are designed to lessen the impact of the "summer slide" in between school years.
$1,065,264 spent$93,002 earned by the program6% of program spendingEarly childhood education - offers full-day preschool programming to 64 children ages 2-5 years old from low-income families, as well as supportive parenting services. Our site is accredited by the national association for the education of young children (naeyc), and carries an excelerate illinois gold circle of quality rating.
$2,460,536 spent$50,639 earned by the program14% of program spendingFamily cares center - a partnership with children's home + aid, provides on-site counseling and other family wellness services for families with children in the settlement's preschool and rowe elementary charter school. This program began in june 2017, and now serves 95 youth.
$820,528 spent5% of program spendingFood pantry and support services - provides basic human needs assistance to over 4,200 individuals in critical need. Components include a food pantry, direct assistance (clothing, household supplies, and baby needs), counseling and referrals, and holiday assistance. Collaborate with americcorps project yes to implement the golden agers senior citizens club and support group.
$743,577 spent4% of program spendingTeen program-providing healthy out-of-school opportunities to teenagers for growth and enrichment is essential for strong, stable communities. Like the after school program, our teen program helps disrupt generational poverty by providing free out-of-school time activities to youth ages 13 to 17 in the areas of art, stem, wellness and nutrition, and social-emotional learning.
$601,675 spent3% of program spendingAdventure stage chicago is northwestern settlement's performing arts space, vittum theater holds 299-seats. The theater serves as a vibrant hub for performances, creative expression, and youth-centered programming, welcoming thousands of young people, families, and community members each year.
$140,134 spent1% of program spendingFacility rentals
$0 spent$961,705 earned by the program0% of program spendingOther program service revenue
$0 spent$68,056 earned by the program0% of program spending
The 10 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,137,915.
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 $28M to $31M (+9%).
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: 2017 72% · 2018 64% · 2019 68% · 2020 77% · 2021 81% · 2022 77% · 2023 77% · 2024 76% · 2025 74%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (21% 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
Carole Wood
President, CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 20 funders to 17 funders, grant income fell $707k → $562k.
16 of 64 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $422k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Northwestern Settlement Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION raised.
From the IRS filings of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 64 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
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% 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
83% 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 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 18% · 2019 26% · 2020 35% · 2021 14% · 2022 48% · 2023 36% — growing more concentrated.
“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
30% of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
53% of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $3.7M that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $373k on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$373k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Northwestern Settlement Foundation · exempt
- Bay Road Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION: 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 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION?
- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION (Illinois) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,747,070 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($1,395,081). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 64 organizations giving $7,747,070 in grants to NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,395,081 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION 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 64 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