Illinois · Nonprofit
POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY
POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,497,886 to it, the largest being PERKINS MALO HUNTER FOUNDATION ($660,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $2.1M
What Polaris Charter Academy does
Mission
To organize and operate a charter school in chicago, il and engage in other education activities permissable under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code of 1986.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Polaris Charter Academy is a k-8 school in the west humboldt park neighborhood of chicago. Polaris is a recognized leader in a rigorous and engaging approach to teaching and learning. As an el education credentialed mentor school, polaris students engage in learning expeditions that tie standards to meaningful work focused on finding complex solutions to real world problems around issues of social justice. Polaris Charter Academy has had a broad impact on national and international education. Polaris students have given the keynote address at both the el education national conference and the hewlett foundation's deeper learning conference. Teachers and administrators have presented their work both nationally and internationally to thousands of educators. Polaris is featured as an exemplary school model in paul tough's book helping children succeed, and polaris student work is featured in the harvard graduate school of education's online archive "models of excellence". Polaris Charter Academy is a level 1 school where 8th grade graduates successfully transition to top high schools around the city.
$5,534,460 spent$183,855 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,534,460.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.5M to $3.4M (+37%).
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 84% · 2018 89% · 2019 90% · 2020 88% · 2021 87% · 2022 88% · 2023 90% · 2024 90% · 2025 90%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Michelle Navarre
Executive director
Board chair
Tina Yarovsky
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $105k → $122k.
5 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY’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
POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 89% · 2019 88% · 2020 73% · 2021 88% · 2022 40% · 2023 74% — 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
56% of POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY draws 52% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $148k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 8 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY
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
85% 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 POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY: 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 POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY?
- POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,497,886 to it, the largest being PERKINS MALO HUNTER FOUNDATION ($660,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,497,886 in grants to POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY?
- PERKINS MALO HUNTER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $660,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLARIS CHARTER ACADEMY 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 Polaris Charter Academy →
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 17 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