Illinois · Nonprofit
STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION
STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $734 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($600). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $734
- Net assets
- $398k
What Stories Matter Foundation does
Mission
We build communities of storytellers trained to question, explore, celebrate, and change their worlds using the power of story.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Courses - we have classes throughout the year ranging from one night sessions all the way up to year long classes on creative writing for adults.
$976,009 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $976,009.
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 2023 to 2024, from $533k to $768k (+44%).
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: 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
15% of STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $665 → $69.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION’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
STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 82% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 90% · 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
100% of STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $134 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION: 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 STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION?
- STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $734 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($600). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $734 in grants to STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION?
- JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STORIES MATTER FOUNDATION 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 Stories Matter →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 2 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