Illinois · Nonprofit
PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,664,666 to it, the largest being Builders Vision Foundation ($2,185,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $784k
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Public Media Institute does
Mission
THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION is to create, incubate, and sustain innovative cultural programming through the production of socially engaged projects, festivals, community spaces, exhibitions, and media.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
MDW - Its an annual program to convene artists and arts organizations from the Midwest to connect and exchange ideas. The program includes an art fair, also known as the MdW Assembly, an online publication called the MdW Atlas, and a series of trips to various sites in the Midwest called the MdW Drifts.
$546,008 spent38% of program spendingBUDDY - Offers a shop committed to giving artists and small manufacturers in Chicago a place to showcase and sell their goods and artworks to a vast audience of Chicagoans and visitors at the Chicago Cultural Center.
$417,709 spent$341,233 earned by the program29% of program spendingLUMPEN MEDIA - The program is a small-scale online television and 24/7 radio station complete with a camera crew and stage set to provide opportunities for artists to produce and air original moving image artworks. The station is a hub for local, multilingual storytelling for communities on Chicago South's Side and beyond.
$271,678 spent$42,578 earned by the program19% of program spendingCO-PROSPERITY - The Organization hosts exhibitions, screenings, presentations, installations, festivals, meetings, and performance programs in its 5,000+ square foot gallery.
$167,195 spent$20,068 earned by the program12% of program spendingCOMMUNITY KITCHEN - Provides complimentary box lunches to in-need residents, families, and health care workers in Chicago while supporting local restaurants and farmers.
$27,506 spent$2,537 earned by the program2% of program spendingLUMPEN MAGAZINE - The Organization issues a quarterly news and culture magazine featuring emerging and established artists and writers. The magazine features editorials, interviews, and reviews focused on current events and emerging cultural trends.
$23,346 spent$1,342 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,453,442.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2022 to 2023, from $532k to $2.6M (+387%).
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 5% · 2021 5% · 2022 9% · 2023 3% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
37% of PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 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.
Board chair
Edward Marszewski
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $15k → $794k.
5 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE’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
PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
28% 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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 55% · 2020 45% · 2021 55% · 2022 53% · 2023 77% — 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
30% of PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE is better cushioned than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE: 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 PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE?
- PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE (Illinois) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,664,666 to it, the largest being Builders Vision Foundation ($2,185,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $4,664,666 in grants to PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE?
- Builders Vision Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,185,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC MEDIA INSTITUTE 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 27 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