Illinois · Nonprofit
SHIMER COLLEGE
SHIMER COLLEGE (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $80,528 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($31,042). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $0
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $81k
- Net assets
- $0
What Shimer College does
Mission
Shimer College formerly provided and preserved education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Historically influential original sources were studied through socratic questioning in small seminar classes, following the kind of great books curriculum advocated by robert maynard hutchins. The core values informing education at shimer were free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. The college offered all members of its community the opportunity to participate meaningfully in deciding the future of the institution. A shimer education demanded much of both the intellect and the character of students, and prepared them for responsible citizenship and the examined life. On june 1, 2017 north central college purchased most of liquid assets of Shimer College and formed the shimer great books school.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Shimer College was closed during the 2017 fiscal year. The college board of trustees voted on june 25, 2024 to dissolve the college and distribute all remaining funds to north central college.
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $4.5M to $489k (−89%).
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: 2017 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 7 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
Cindy Hyndman
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $52k → $7k.
4 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 SHIMER COLLEGE’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
SHIMER COLLEGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
86% 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 SHIMER COLLEGE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2020 99% · 2021 98% · 2022 98% · 2023 99% — 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.
Where its funders are
86% of SHIMER COLLEGE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $11k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 3 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k 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.
Organizations like SHIMER COLLEGE
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
0% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SHIMER COLLEGE: 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 SHIMER COLLEGE?
- SHIMER COLLEGE (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $80,528 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($31,042). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SHIMER COLLEGE have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $80,528 in grants to SHIMER COLLEGE, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SHIMER COLLEGE?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $31,042 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SHIMER COLLEGE 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 Shimer College →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 7 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