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Illinois · Nonprofit

PROJECT OZ

PROJECT OZ (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $821,287 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY ($350,650). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.3M
Funders on record
14
Grants received
$821k
Net assets
$2.8M
8/14 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 10%
01What it does

What Project Oz does

Mission

Partner with young people to build a foundation that promotes safety, opportunities, and well-being in their lives.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Youth services - provide crisis intervention, placement services, outreach services, and embedded school counselors.

    $1,539,559 spent$1,733,419 earned by the program
    57% of program spending
  2. Prevention and education - provides training, information, and instruction to students and other stakeholders regarding substance use prevention, decision making, and suicide prevention.

    $605,382 spent$702,272 earned by the program
    23% of program spending
  3. Youth empowered schools - provides counselors in school districts to help students talk out problems they are having with school, family and friends, set goals, and learn new skills.

    $528,075 spent$640,338 earned by the program
    20% of program spending
  4. Other and sales

    $5,908 spent$557,013 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,678,924.

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 ($2.0M) Expenses 100 ($2.0M) Net assets 100 ($1.5M)2018 Revenue 110 ($2.1M) Expenses 105 ($2.1M) Net assets 101 ($1.6M)2019 Revenue 119 ($2.3M) Expenses 112 ($2.3M) Net assets 105 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 122 ($2.4M) Expenses 108 ($2.2M) Net assets 118 ($1.8M)2021 Revenue 121 ($2.4M) Expenses 114 ($2.3M) Net assets 121 ($1.9M)2022 Revenue 130 ($2.5M) Expenses 118 ($2.4M) Net assets 130 ($2.0M)2023 Revenue 135 ($2.6M) Expenses 129 ($2.6M) Net assets 132 ($2.0M)2024 Revenue 188 ($3.7M) Expenses 154 ($3.1M) Net assets 169 ($2.6M)2025 Revenue 171 ($3.3M) Expenses 154 ($3.1M) Net assets 182 ($2.8M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (171)Expenses (154)Net assets (182)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 2024 to 2025, from $3.1M to $4.0M (+30%).

$1.8M
$1.8M
$1.8M
$2.1M
$2.2M
$2.3M
$2.4M
$3.1M
$4.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 87% · 2018 79% · 2019 92% · 2020 86% · 2021 86% · 2022 84% · 2023 85% · 2024 77% · 2025 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

88% of PROJECT OZ’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$74k
’17
$21k
’18
$61k
’19
$189k
’20
$52k
’21
$148k
’22
$31k
’23
$560k
’24
$205k
’25
8.3
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.

Chief executive

Lisa Thompson

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed101614131415121414
Joined·+6+1+3+2+2+0+2+0
No longer listed·03411300
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income fell $192k → $39k.

6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 OZ’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

PROJECT OZ leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

96% 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 OZ.

43%
largest funder
82%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 59% · 2021 44% · 2022 73% · 2023 68% — 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

67% of PROJECT OZ's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

93% of PROJECT OZ's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

WA
MN
IL
WI
TX

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. $379k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

PROJECT OZ holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin6% · above the median
Months of reserve8.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)7% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding PROJECT OZ receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.5M on record.

Federal$8.5M
grants $8.5Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Department of Health and Human Services$8.5M

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 OZ

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

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 13%Fundraising 0%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PROJECT OZ: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 OZ?
PROJECT OZ (Illinois) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $821,287 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY ($350,650). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does PROJECT OZ have?
IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $821,287 in grants to PROJECT OZ, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PROJECT OZ?
UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $350,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PROJECT OZ 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 Oz →

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 14 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