Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE
THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,315 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($377,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $984k
- Net assets
- $10M
What The Center for Humans and Nature does
Mission
To explore and promote human responsibilities in relation to nature - the whole community of life. The center is home to a press and farm that explore in-depth and diverse perspectives about what it means to be human in an interconnected world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Humans & nature press amplifies voices critical to our collective future, providing print and digital platforms connecting readers with stories and ideas. The digital press offers poetry, essays, and artwork at no cost to readers, celebrating diverse sources of wisdom about what it means to be human in relationship with the whole community of life. Books offer in-depth explorations on the themes of human interconnection with nature and our responsibilities to the living world. Books published by the press are available to purchase through many independent bookstores and online platforms.
$524,661 spentof which $160,428 as grants$18,673 earned by the program50% of program spendingHumans & nature farm is a place where the ideas of humans & nature press take root. The farm is a place to activate and demonstrate reciprocal relationships among humans and nature. The farm is working toward a harvest of plants to sell. The center for humans & nature is committed to land care throughout the center's 50-acre home, with land care practices rooted in relationship with humans, plants, animals, waters, air, and soils.
$117,928 spent$6,218 earned by the program11% of program spendingCommunications the center for humans & nature amplifies stories and ideas developed through the work of the press and farm through its social media channels, newsletter, and other online platforms, as well as through collaborations with mission-aligned organizations.
$404,584 spent39% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,047,173.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $10.0M to $8.2M (−17%).
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: 2020 8% · 2021 8% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
61% of THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (68% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 5 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.
Board chair
Ceara Donnelley Jd
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income rose $32k → $71k.
4 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE’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
THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% 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 THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 36% · 2019 42% · 2020 35% · 2021 60% · 2022 59% · 2023 88% — 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
17% of THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE draws 54% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $442k 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.
Against its field
THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 482 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 482 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
42%
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 THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE: 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 THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE?
- THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE (Illinois) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $984,315 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($377,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $984,315 in grants to THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $377,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CENTER FOR HUMANS AND NATURE 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 Center for Humans and Nature →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing