Illinois · Nonprofit
PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION
PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 123 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,794,880 to it, the largest being NFL FOUNDATION INC ($2,413,000). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 123
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $5.6M
What Pat Tillman Foundation does
Mission
In 2002, pat tillman proudly put his nfl career with the arizona cardinals on hold to serve his country. Family and friends established the Pat Tillman Foundation following pat's death in april 2004 while serving with the 75th ranger regiment in afghanistan. Created to honor pat's legacy of leadership and service, the Pat Tillman Foundation invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships-building a diverse community of leaders committed to service to others. For more information on the Pat Tillman Foundation, visit www.pattillmanfoundation.org. Founded in 2008, the tillman scholars program supports our nation's active-duty service members, veterans and military spouses by investing in their higher education. The scholarship program covers direct study-related expenses, including tuition and fees, books and living expenses, for scholars who are pursuing undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate degrees as a full-time student at a public or private, u.s.-based
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The programmatic pillar of the Pat Tillman Foundation is the tillman scholars program. Founded in 2009, the program invests in active-duty service members, veterans, and military spouses through academic scholarships and leadership development support. Scholarships cover direct study-related expenses, including tuition and fees, books, and living expenses for scholars pursuing undergraduate, graduate, or professional degrees as full-time students at accredited, u.s.-based public or private institutions. Each year, the foundation selects up to 60 tillman scholars who display the same four characteristics pat tillman displayed: service, scholarship, humble leadership, and impact. Scholars are selected based on extraordinary academic and leadership potential, a track record of perseverance, and a commitment to creating meaningful, lasting change across the public and private sectors. Since its inception, the foundation has invested over 40 million in tillman scholar scholarships and program service expenses and has named 968 tillman scholars at more than 160 academic institutions nationwide. Tillman scholars represent all six branches of the united states military, including the…
$3,852,398 spentof which $1,341,188 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,852,398.
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 $4.7M to $5.9M (+26%).
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 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Katherine Steele
CEO
Board chair
Marie Tillman Shenton
Chair & co-f
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $460k → $1.7M.
24 of 123 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 123 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
PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
56% 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 PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 39% · 2019 26% · 2020 23% · 2021 15% · 2022 18% · 2023 12% — 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
47% of PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 29 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like PAT TILLMAN 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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 PAT TILLMAN 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 PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION?
- PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 123 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,794,880 to it, the largest being NFL FOUNDATION INC ($2,413,000). 64 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 123 organizations giving $11,794,880 in grants to PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION, 64 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION?
- NFL FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,413,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PAT TILLMAN 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 123 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