Illinois · Nonprofit
ROCKFORD PROMISE
ROCKFORD PROMISE (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,284,885 to it, the largest being AMENDED AND RESTATED BRUBAKER CHARITABLE TRUST ($1,058,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What Rockford Promise does
Mission
Vision statement: enhance economic vitality in the rockford region by providing access to post-secondary education for all rockford public school graduates. - mission statement: remove financial barriers by offering full-tuition scholarships and provide support to enhance student success to degree or program completion.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Provided full-tuition scholarships for selected rockford public school graduates: 14 attending rockford university, 46 attending rock valley college, and 174 students attending northern illinois university. - 115 additional students have been selected for full-tuition scholarships beginning in the fall of 2024 (4 attending rockford university, 27 attending rock valley college, and 84 attending northern illinois university).
$1,190,586 spentof which $811,027 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,190,586.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2024 to 2025, from $4.9M to $8.2M (+67%).
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: 2022 1% · 2023 6% · 2024 13% · 2025 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of ROCKFORD PROMISE’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. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $105k → $460k.
5 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 ROCKFORD PROMISE’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
ROCKFORD PROMISE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 74%; 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 95% · 2018 100% · 2019 89% · 2020 89% · 2021 45% · 2022 72% · 2023 47% — 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
57% of ROCKFORD PROMISE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
99% of ROCKFORD PROMISE's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $371k 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
ROCKFORD PROMISE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like ROCKFORD PROMISE
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
92%
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 ROCKFORD PROMISE: 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 ROCKFORD PROMISE?
- ROCKFORD PROMISE (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,284,885 to it, the largest being AMENDED AND RESTATED BRUBAKER CHARITABLE TRUST ($1,058,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ROCKFORD PROMISE have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $2,284,885 in grants to ROCKFORD PROMISE, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROCKFORD PROMISE?
- AMENDED AND RESTATED BRUBAKER CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,058,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROCKFORD PROMISE 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 Rockford Promise →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 15 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