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Illinois · Nonprofit

SVARA

SVARA (Illinois) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,315,766 to it, the largest being THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION ($2,857,716). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.5M
Funders on record
33
Grants received
$7.3M
Net assets
$552k
22/33 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 82%
01What it does

What Svara does

Mission

Svara's mission is to empower queer and trans people to shape new forms of torah and tradition through the spiritual practice of talmud study.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. SVARA supports a growing, intergenerational learning community in deepening their study of, and connection to, the Talmud and Jewish tradtion.

    $1,392,624 spentof which $14,031 as grants$75,936 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,392,624.

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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($775k) Expenses 100 ($667k) Net assets 100 ($222k)2019 Revenue 190 ($1.5M) Expenses 191 ($1.3M) Net assets 208 ($463k)2020 Revenue 125 ($970k) Expenses 164 ($1.1M) Net assets 153 ($340k)2021 Revenue 255 ($2.0M) Expenses 223 ($1.5M) Net assets 373 ($830k)2022 Revenue 284 ($2.2M) Expenses 329 ($2.2M) Net assets 376 ($837k)2023 Revenue 193 ($1.5M) Expenses 323 ($2.2M) Net assets 81 ($181k)2024 Revenue 327 ($2.5M) Expenses 325 ($2.2M) Net assets 248 ($552k)
2017201920202021202220232024
Revenue (327)Expenses (325)Net assets (248)Peer revenue range

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 $935k to $251k (−73%).

$245k
$507k
$463k
$877k
$935k
$251k
$670k
2017201920202021202220232024
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
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of SVARA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,735 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$108k
’17
$191k
’19
−$123k
’20
$490k
’21
$7k
’22
−$656k
’23
$371k
’24
0.1
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.

Board chair

Jo Ware

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

2017201920202021202220232024
Listed67810131313
Joined··+1+3+4+2+2
No longer listed··01122
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $98k → $1.2M.

13 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 SVARA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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

SVARA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

27% 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 SVARA.

39%
largest funder
67%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 61% · 2019 47% · 2020 41% · 2021 44% · 2022 40% · 2023 33% — 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

50% of SVARA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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

SVARA draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 8 states in all.

IL
NY
MA
OH
RI
CA
DC
FL

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. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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

Against its field

SVARA runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,394 religion nonprofits its size.

Operating margin15% · above the median
Months of reserve0.1mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)18% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,394 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like SVARA

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

64% of spending goes to programs.

Program 64%Management 23%Fundraising 13%

Governance

11
board members
91%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

48%

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 SVARA: 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 SVARA?
SVARA (Illinois) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,315,766 to it, the largest being THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION ($2,857,716). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does SVARA have?
IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $7,315,766 in grants to SVARA, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SVARA?
THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,857,716 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SVARA 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 Svara →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 33 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