Illinois · Nonprofit
PROJECT ONWARD
PROJECT ONWARD (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $772,137 to it, the largest being THE VIRGINIA A GROOT FOUNDATION ($200,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $599k
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $772k
- Net assets
- $-15582
What Project Onward does
Mission
Our mission requires us to provide artists with disabilities the opportunity to create their work in a safe, supportive studio environment, with access to workspace, materials, and professional guidance without being encumbered by cost; connect artists with disabilities with the arts community and the general public, by holding professional exhibitions and selling their work. Additionally, public programs have been designed that promote audience participation; and inspire change by using art to promote empathy and reduce the stigma of mental illness and developmental disabilities. We seek to improve the self-image of artists by emphasizing the social and economic value of their work. This will cultivate new audiences in the art market by increasing awareness of and generating demand for artwork created by peoples with disabilities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization operates a studio for artists to assist in their development as artists. The studio is also open to the public serving as a space to promote art as a tool for understanding and valuing the real and potential contributions of those with disabilities as well as hosting public programs. All artwork in the organization's gallery and studio are available for sale. These sales provide a source of income for the artists. Throughout the year, the organization will host and attend exhibitions promoting works created by the artists.
$528,014 spent$221,621 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $528,014.
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 $814k to $314k (−61%).
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: 2020 3% · 2021 12% · 2022 14% · 2023 11% · 2024 1% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
63% of PROJECT ONWARD’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (54% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $50k → $189k.
7 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 PROJECT ONWARD’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 15 of 16 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
PROJECT ONWARD has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
37% 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 PROJECT ONWARD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 60% · 2019 61% · 2020 57% · 2021 95% · 2022 98% · 2023 53% — 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
44% of PROJECT ONWARD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
89% of PROJECT ONWARD's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $287k 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.
Against its field
PROJECT ONWARD's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,448 employment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding PROJECT ONWARD receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 PROJECT ONWARD
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
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 PROJECT ONWARD: 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 PROJECT ONWARD?
- PROJECT ONWARD (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $772,137 to it, the largest being THE VIRGINIA A GROOT FOUNDATION ($200,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PROJECT ONWARD have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $772,137 in grants to PROJECT ONWARD, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PROJECT ONWARD?
- THE VIRGINIA A GROOT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PROJECT ONWARD 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 Project Onward →
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 16 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