Illinois · Nonprofit
Sisters in Cinema NFP
Sisters in Cinema NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,315,940 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($682,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Sisters in Cinema NFP does
Mission
An inclusive mission that centers and celebrates Black girls, women, and gender-expansive media makers, providing programs designed to educate, raise visibility, and support and serve our communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Various programs were provided to achieve the organization's mission: the sisters in cinema documentary fellowship, reel innovators, the sisters screening series, exhibitions, pocket cinema, when past meets power in south shore, sisters in cinema productions
$682,809 spentof which $47,500 as grants$35,600 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $682,809.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2021 to 2022, from $986k to $2.0M (+108%).
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: 2021 6% · 2022 20% · 2023 8% · 2024 23% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of Sisters in Cinema NFP’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 9 funders, grant income rose $9k → $355k.
8 of 26 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 Sisters in Cinema NFP’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 25 of 26 funders by total. 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
Sisters in Cinema NFP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 68%; 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: 2018 100% · 2019 34% · 2020 52% · 2021 42% · 2022 50% · 2023 42% — 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
56% of Sisters in Cinema NFP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
51% of Sisters in Cinema NFP's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $377k 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
Sisters in Cinema NFP runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Sisters in Cinema NFP
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
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
59%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Sisters in Cinema Productions LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Sisters in Cinema NFP: 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 Sisters in Cinema NFP?
- Sisters in Cinema NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,315,940 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($682,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sisters in Cinema NFP have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,315,940 in grants to Sisters in Cinema NFP, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sisters in Cinema NFP?
- JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $682,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sisters in Cinema NFP 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 26 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