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Illinois · Nonprofit

SPORTS SHED INC

SPORTS SHED INC (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $561,956 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($388,110). 6 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 FY2023
$257k
Funders on record
20
Grants received
$562k
Net assets
$0
6/20 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 34%
01What it does

What Sports Shed Inc does

Mission

Provide children in under-resourced situations opportunities to engage in sports and physical fitness by providing quality sports equipment to organizations and schools.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

On its FY2023 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.

On October 26, 2023 the board of directors voted to cease operations and dissolve the organization as of December 31, 2023. This decision was documented via a signed board of directors resolution.

Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).

  1. Provides sporting equipment to over 60 schools and organizations. Helping to create new sports programs and activities.

    $374,842 spent$97,637 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $374,842.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($440k) Expenses 100 ($316k) Net assets 100 ($248k)2018 Revenue 92 ($405k) Expenses 110 ($348k) Net assets 123 ($305k)2019 Revenue 125 ($550k) Expenses 189 ($599k) Net assets 104 ($256k)2020 Revenue 108 ($474k) Expenses 143 ($451k) Net assets 126 ($311k)2021 Revenue 155 ($682k) Expenses 213 ($673k) Net assets 130 ($321k)2022 Revenue 122 ($538k) Expenses 217 ($686k) Net assets 70 ($173k)2023 Revenue 58 ($257k) Expenses 136 ($430k) Net assets 0 ($0)
2017201820192020202120222023
Revenue (58)Expenses (136)Net assets (0)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $180k to $13k (−93%).

$252k
$305k
$274k
$313k
$322k
$180k
$13k
2017201820192020202120222023
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$124k
’17
$57k
’18
−$48k
’19
$23k
’20
$9k
’21
−$148k
’22
−$173k
’23
0.3
months of
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.

Chief executive

Tina Sernett

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed67888433
Joined·+3+2+0+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·2100410
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $2k → $66k.

7 of 20 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 SPORTS SHED INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 19 of 20 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

SPORTS SHED INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

95% 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 SPORTS SHED INC.

69%
largest funder
88%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 40% · 2019 75% · 2020 51% · 2021 93% · 2022 93% · 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.

How long its funders stay

23% of SPORTS SHED INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 30% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

86% of SPORTS SHED INC'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 $78k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 5 states.

MN
IL
NY
DE
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $484k 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like SPORTS SHED 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

0% of spending goes to programs.

Program 0%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPORTS SHED 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 SPORTS SHED INC?
SPORTS SHED INC (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $561,956 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($388,110). 6 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 SPORTS SHED INC have?
IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $561,956 in grants to SPORTS SHED INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SPORTS SHED INC?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $388,110 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SPORTS SHED 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.

Play a game about who funds Sports Shed →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), and the filings of 20 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