Illinois · Nonprofit
Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts
Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts (Illinois) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,173 to it, the largest being AMERICAN WATER CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONINC ($60,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $420k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $144k
- Net assets
- $98k
What Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts does
Mission
Promote awareness of arts, integrated arts & sciences serve rural and urban communities, schools, and families by mobilizing local and regional resources to advance and increase access to the arts and sciences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Art and integrated arts programs- professional writers and artists teach classes and present workshops on site at the foundation and in schools to advance access to the arts and integrated arts. (art & science in the woods)
$212,907 spent$201,485 earned by the program64% of program spendingClean water celebration-speakers and programs presented for school children to educate about environmental issues and awareness.
$75,083 spent$57,271 earned by the program23% of program spendingSeasonal programs-provide specialized educational programs for children
$4,292 spent1% of program spendingOther programs include re-granting program, to provide grants to schools and other non-profit organizations for programs related to arts and the environment, seasonal programs, and an annual publication.
$38,835 spentof which $18,257 as grants$22,420 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $331,117.
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 $86k to $165k (+91%).
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% · 2019 10% · 2020 2% · 2021 8% · 2022 16% · 2023 7% · 2024 8% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Joan Root Ericksen
Executive director
Board chair
Travis Wilcoxen
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $5k → $66k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts’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
Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
41% 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 Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 96% · 2020 77% · 2021 92% · 2022 83% · 2023 53% — 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
20% of Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40k 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 Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts
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
83% 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 Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts: 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 Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts?
- Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts (Illinois) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,173 to it, the largest being AMERICAN WATER CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONINC ($60,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $144,173 in grants to Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts?
- AMERICAN WATER CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONINC is the largest funder on record, with $60,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sun Foundation Environmental Sciences and Arts 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 9 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