Illinois · Nonprofit
SICK CELLS
SICK CELLS (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $206,520 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($95,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $207k
- Net assets
- $280k
What Sick Cells does
Mission
Sick Cells is a national advocacy nonprofit for sickle cell disease (scd). Originally a documentary project started in 2008, Sick Cells grew to much more and was founded as a 501c3 nonprofit in 2017. Sick Cells' mission is to elevate the voices of the scd community and our stories of resilience. In highlighting the grave disparities our community faces, we will influence decision-makers and propel change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2025, our organization conducted a wide range of education and outreach activities aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of sickle cell disease (scd), while also working to improve access to care for individuals living with the condition. We hosted two national events-the 2025 scd policy forum and the 2025 Sick Cells therapeutics conference-which engaged over 484 participants, including patients, caregivers, researchers, medicaid directors, healthcare providers, commercial payers, and other key stakeholders.our programs advanced our mission to improve quality of life for people with scd through public policy advocacy, community education, and public awareness. Highlights include:ambassador program - the Sick Cells ambassador program equips a diverse network of advocates with the tools and opportunities to represent and advance the scd community's interests. In 2025, we recruited 114 new ambassadors, growing the program to 432 individuals across 34 states and washington, dc. Program activities included 11 monthly advocacy workshops (priority topic meetings), and referrals to focus groups, research projects/surveys, and speaking engagements. Additionally, ambassadors…
$965,517 spent$950,359 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $965,517.
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 2020 to 2021, from $145k to $400k (+175%).
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 7% · 2021 3% · 2023 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of SICK CELLS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Ashley Valentine
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $60k → $48.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 SICK CELLS’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
SICK CELLS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 SICK CELLS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 83% · 2020 76% · 2021 75% · 2022 46% · 2023 100% — 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
SICK CELLS draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
SICK CELLS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,002 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,002 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SICK CELLS
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
37%
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 SICK CELLS: 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 SICK CELLS?
- SICK CELLS (Illinois) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $206,520 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($95,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SICK CELLS have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $206,520 in grants to SICK CELLS, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SICK CELLS?
- PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $95,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SICK CELLS 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 Sick Cells →
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 5 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing