Illinois · Nonprofit
OPENLANDS
OPENLANDS (Illinois) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,069,742 to it, the largest being Hamill Family Foundation ($7,642,000). 88 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $10M
- Funders on record
- 150
- Grants received
- $34M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Openlands does
Mission
Openlands protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern illinois and the surrounding region to ensure cleaner air and water, protect natural habitats and wildlife, and help balance and enrich our lives.Openlands' vision for the region is a landscape that includes a vast network of land and water trails, tree-lined streets, and intimate public gardens within easy reach of every city dweller. It also includes parks and preserves big enough to provide natural habitat and to give visitors a sense of the vast prairies, woodlands, and wetlands that were here before the cities. In sum, Openlands believes that protected open space is critical for the quality of life of our region.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Forestry and Community Engagement - Openlands Forestry programming supports the planting of trees with community residents on public land and educates residents in the care and advocacy around the urban forest. In FY 25, Openlands planted 1,3158 trees. Through the Openlands TreeKeeper Certification Course, community residents gain the knowledge and skills needed to care for, protect, and advocate for trees. In FY25 trained 123 individuals. TreeKeepers participated in 255 volunteer events, resulting in 4,446 trees pruned and 1,362 trees inventoried.
$2,247,528 spentof which $5,000 as grants$157,417 earned by the program40% of program spendingRestoration and Greenways - Openlands works to return the Chicago Region to a healthy state for nature, wildlife, and people. We work with diverse partners to accomplish ecological restoration goals that ensure resilient and biodiverse ecosystems for years to come.In 2025: we continued phase 1 of a 1,500 acre grassland bird restoration project in the Grant Creek Watershed at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
$1,296,856 spentof which $320,938 as grants23% of program spendingLand Preservation - As Chicago's regional land trust, Openlands connects and energizes the region through strategic collaboration and local partnerships that protect land, water, and wildlife. In 2025, Openlands acquired and transferred land holdings to regional partners in and around the metro Chicago area. The Lands In Harmony program allowed over 70 private landowners to learn about sustainable land management for their properties
$1,283,137 spent$7,980 earned by the program23% of program spendingPolicy - In the City of Chicago, Openlands has been actively engaged with the Urban Forestry Advisory Board and also published a policy report calling for an update of the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance. Regionally, Openlands celebrated the passage of successful ballot measures in DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties that will generate $669 million in new funding to support their forest preserves and conservation district over the next 20 years. In state government, Openlands advocated for legislation that upholds our values and mission. Openlands was instrumental in the passage of a new state law to strengthen protections for township open space districts. Federally, Openlands advocated for the Forest Conservation Easement Program, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge, and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
$434,588 spent8% of program spendingOther Programs
$396,647 spent$23,540 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,658,756.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $24M to $30M (+24%).
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 11% · 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 1% · 2021 13% · 2022 15% · 2023 3% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Joann Seagren
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 30 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $4.9M.
21 of 150 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 OPENLANDS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 150 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
OPENLANDS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
39% 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 OPENLANDS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 27% · 2019 66% · 2020 36% · 2021 31% · 2022 26% · 2023 38% — 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
49% of OPENLANDS'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
91% of OPENLANDS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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.
Government funding OPENLANDS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.6M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$4.5M
- Environmental Protection Agency$75k
- Department of the Interior$50k
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 OPENLANDS
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
68%
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 OPENLANDS: 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 OPENLANDS?
- OPENLANDS (Illinois) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $34,069,742 to it, the largest being Hamill Family Foundation ($7,642,000). 88 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPENLANDS have?
- IRS filings report 150 organizations giving $34,069,742 in grants to OPENLANDS, 88 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPENLANDS?
- Hamill Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $7,642,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPENLANDS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 150 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