Illinois · Nonprofit
RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC
RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,908,576 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($1,554,750). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $2.9M
- Net assets
- $962k
What Rural Schools Collaborative Inc does
Mission
The rural schools collaborative supports the development of rural school communities through a keen focus on place, teachers, and philanthropy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The rural schools collaborative successfully engaged 50 rural schools engaging in the national grad partnership for student success initiative. This place-based, collaborative effort supports regional hub intermediaries and local school cohorts to adopt research-driven frameworks that ensure rural schools and their communities work together toward student post- secondary success.
$525,897 spentof which $380,896 as grants69% of program spendingThe rural schools collaborative continued to promote the rural teaching profession, including storytelling initiatives like the I am a rural teacher campaign and by addressing the rural teacher shortage through support of rural teacher corps programs. These programs intentionally recruit, prepare, and return rural educators in communities across the country.
$182,349 spent24% of program spendingRural schools collaborative's grants in place program provides modest grants to rural teacher in support of place based education projects in their classrooms and communities. In fy25, 24 rural educators were awarded classroom grants through the grants in place fellows and national signature award.
$57,443 spentof which $48,943 as grants8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $765,689.
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 2024 to 2025, from $464k to $962k (+107%).
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.
99% of RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC’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 6 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
Brian Fogle
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $30k → $681k.
7 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 RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC’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
RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
82% 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 RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 63% · 2019 97% · 2020 99% · 2021 47% · 2022 31% · 2023 65% — 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
40% of RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 40% 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
RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $463k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC 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 RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC: 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 RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC?
- RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC (Illinois) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,908,576 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($1,554,750). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $2,908,576 in grants to RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC?
- JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY is the largest funder on record, with $1,554,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RURAL SCHOOLS COLLABORATIVE INC 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 FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), 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