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Illinois · Nonprofit

Pathways Foundation

Pathways Foundation (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,092,978 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($685,881). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.9M
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$1.1M
Net assets
$796k
7/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 20%
01What it does

What Pathways Foundation does

Mission

Pathways Foundation is committed to advancing the mission and functions of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab by providing parents with free, trusted resources to effectively support their child's early development and capitalize on neuroplasticity.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Pathways Foundation operates exclusively for the benefit of, to perform the functions of and to carry out the purposes of Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, dba Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. SRALab is dedicated to providing the best patient outcomes through the highest-quality clinical care, translational research, scientific discovery and education. IN FURTHERANCE OF THESE PURPOSES, PATHWAYS IS ORGANIZED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION DISSEMINATION AND EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS RELATED TO INFANTS WITH A PARTICULAR EXPERTISE AND FOCUS ON ATYPICAL MOTOR, SENSORY, AND COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT AND TO CONDUCT SUCH RELATED CHARITABLE OR EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. During FY25, Pathways Foundation accomplished this through the following programs. Pathways Educational Outreach: Pathways.org is dedicated to sharing information about children's development, as well as raising awareness and promoting the benefits of early detection and early intervention for babies to prevent motor, sensory, or communication delays. By providing educational resources on these topics, all children have the ability to achieve optimal development leading to improved functional independence, social and emotional well-being, and…

    $1,990,793 spent$3,525 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,990,793.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($3.1M) Expenses 100 ($3.3M) Net assets 100 ($410k)2018 Revenue 72 ($2.2M) Expenses 27 ($872k) Net assets 335 ($1.4M)2019 Revenue 35 ($1.1M) Expenses 39 ($1.3M) Net assets 284 ($1.2M)2020 Revenue 34 ($1.1M) Expenses 35 ($1.1M) Net assets 265 ($1.1M)2021 Revenue 35 ($1.1M) Expenses 33 ($1.1M) Net assets 262 ($1.1M)2022 Revenue 42 ($1.3M) Expenses 39 ($1.3M) Net assets 262 ($1.1M)2023 Revenue 37 ($1.1M) Expenses 41 ($1.3M) Net assets 208 ($854k)2024 Revenue 61 ($1.9M) Expenses 59 ($1.9M) Net assets 194 ($796k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (61)Expenses (59)Net assets (194)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $560k to $1.5M (+163%).

$560k
$1.5M
$1.2M
$1.1M
$1.1M
$1.1M
$907k
$971k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of Pathways Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (51% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 8,611 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$203k
’17
$1.3M
’18
−$206k
’19
−$81k
’20
−$10k
’21
−$2k
’22
−$219k
’23
−$58k
’24
0.0
months of
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

Shirley W Ryan

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

201720182024
Listed101110
Joined·+1·
No longer listed·0·
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $141k → $45k.

6 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Pathways Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

Pathways Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

63%
largest funder
83%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 73% · 2019 88% · 2020 90% · 2021 90% · 2022 83% · 2023 50% — 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

38% of Pathways Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

100% of Pathways Foundation's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $197k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Pathways Foundation's revenue fell 39% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−3% · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−7% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 8,121 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding Pathways Foundation receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $28 on record.

State$28
Top programs
  • FEES - GENERAL - COMMODITIES $28

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 Pathways 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

71% of spending goes to programs.

Program 71%Management 29%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
75%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago dba Shirley Ryan AbilityLab · exempt
  • Rehabilitation Institute Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Pathways 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.

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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 Pathways Foundation?
Pathways Foundation (Illinois) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,092,978 to it, the largest being PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION ($685,881). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Pathways Foundation have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $1,092,978 in grants to Pathways Foundation, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Pathways Foundation?
PATRICK G AND SHIRLEY W RYAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $685,881 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Pathways 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.

Play a game about who funds Pathways →

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 10 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