Illinois · Nonprofit
PAWS CHICAGO
PAWS CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 423 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,487,896 to it, the largest being Wayne and Nan Kocourek Foundation ($8,075,748). 234 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $47M
- Funders on record
- 423
- Grants received
- $30M
- Net assets
- $149M
What Paws Chicago does
Mission
Paws Chicago is a national leader in the no kill animal welfare movement, helping more than 23,842 homeless and at-risk pets each year through comprehensive spay/neuter, medical, and adoption programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Animal health & behavior: ensuring that every single rescued pet receives the medical and behavioral resources needed to not just survive, but thrive is the core purpose of the animal health & behavior pillar of Paws Chicago's no kill model. The expanded and recently renovated 30,000 square foot Paws Chicago nan & wayne kocourek medical center is the most state-of-the-art hospital for homeless animals in the nation, and it's the first stop for every one of Paws Chicago's 4,561 adopted pets. With special quarantine and isolation wards to prevent disease transmission, a team of expert medical and behavior professionals ensures every pet receives the individual care they need, resulting in an industry-leading 98.62% save rate. From upper respiratory infections to deadly diseases like canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia, from injuries to skin infections, the Paws Chicago medical team sees and heals it all. Veterinary surgeons not only spay and neuter every pet, but also performed 716 advanced surgeries addressing orthopedic conditions such as torn ligaments, eye injuries, hernia repairs, mass removals, extensive dental disease requiring extractions, and many other medical…
$8,183,748 spent$198,757 earned by the program49% of program spendingPrevention & spay/neuter: Paws Chicago performed 16,587 spay/neuters in 2023, making it the largest local provider of free and low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter surgeries, and the only clinic located in and serving under-resourced communities where the majority of stray, feral and unwanted pets originate. Through the Paws Chicago lurie clinic in little village, located less than two miles from chicago's animal care & control, the city impoundment facility, paws offers spay/neuter services where they are needed most and where they make the most impact.preventing unwanted pets from being born is key to building a no kill chicago because pets breed exponentially. A single female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 kittens in seven years. For dogs, the number is 96,000. Spay/neuter surgeries are the solution to pet overpopulation, and as such, are at the core of paws prevention initiatives.at the end of 2023 Paws Chicago has performed 315,347 free and low-cost spay/neuter surgeries since the lurie clinic's opening in 2000, which has been a driving force in chicago's reduction in euthanasia during that time.as an ancillary service to the lurie clinic, Paws Chicago…
$4,000,027 spent$1,544,651 earned by the program24% of program spendingAdoption: rescuing homeless pets and uniting them with their new families directly connects the public with homeless pets on the deepest level and provides a tangible way for people to make an impact for animals. Through Paws Chicago's adoption centers and innovative adoption events, paws united 4,561 animals with loving homes in 2023. By the end of 2023, the cumulative number of adoptions since Paws Chicago's founding in 1997 was 82,234. Using a proprietary competibility quiz, paws uses technology to match pets with prospective adopters based on their lifestyle needs, helping to ensure a long-term fit and match expectations.paws trainers and volunteers offer on-site support and advice, provide detailed pet background and assessment information, conducting resident pet introductions and ensuring a smooth transition into the home. Volunteers offer detailed adoption counseling and follow-up to ensure post-adoption success. Showcasing adoptable pets in highly trafficked places outside of the paws adoption center expands the reach of the mission and inspires action for animals. In 2023, paws hosted 24 offsite adoption events, including high-profile angels with tails adoption events…
$2,288,793 spent$991,034 earned by the program14% of program spendingCommunity engagement: community engagement is the foundation for creating lasting change for animals and is the basis upon which all of Paws Chicago's programs are built. People cause the pet overpopulation problem and people have the power to solve it; animals are the voiceless victims. The way to inspire and create real change for animals is to mobilize people to be their caretakers and advocates and provide needed support in under-resourced communities.when Paws Chicago was founded in 1997, the mass killing of homeless pets was a hidden crisis. The public had no idea that more than 42,000 homeless cats and dogs would be euthanized in the city of chicago that year. Paws Chicago was founded to bring attention to the plight of these vulnerable animals and to mobilize public support to develop humane solutions and build no kill communities. Shining a light on pet overpopulation and homelessness and the resultant killing has mobilized tens of thousands of people to get involved in the cause by adopting, fostering, volunteering, advocating for and donating to homeless pets.with its no kill model in action, Paws Chicago is leading a movement that ripples throughout the country. Every…
$2,287,622 spent14% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,760,190.
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 2023 to 2024, from $125M to $150M (+21%).
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 5% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of PAWS CHICAGO’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 95 funders to 173 funders, grant income rose $959k → $5.6M.
39 of 423 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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: $13M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Peter & Paula Fasseas Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money PAWS CHICAGO raised.
From the IRS filings of PAWS CHICAGO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 423 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
PAWS CHICAGO has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 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 PAWS CHICAGO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 16% · 2019 24% · 2020 15% · 2021 10% · 2022 14% · 2023 39% — 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
50% of PAWS CHICAGO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
81% of PAWS CHICAGO's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
PAWS CHICAGO runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 235 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 235 animals nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like PAWS CHICAGO
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 PAWS CHICAGO: 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 PAWS CHICAGO?
- PAWS CHICAGO (Illinois) receives grants from 423 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,487,896 to it, the largest being Wayne and Nan Kocourek Foundation ($8,075,748). 234 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PAWS CHICAGO have?
- IRS filings report 423 organizations giving $30,487,896 in grants to PAWS CHICAGO, 234 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PAWS CHICAGO?
- Wayne and Nan Kocourek Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $8,075,748 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PAWS CHICAGO 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 Paws Chicago →
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 423 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