Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION
THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,111,979 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($2,543,251). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 58
- Grants received
- $5.1M
- Net assets
- $5.6M
What The Chicago Bar Foundation does
Mission
The Chicago Bar Foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Made the court system more user-friendly and accessible for people in need, particularly those without lawyers. The cbf continued its role as a lead partner with the circuit court, cook county, legal aid, and others in the cook county legal aid for housing and debt program, which provides critical help for people facing evictions, consumer debt challenges, and foreclosures and helps tens of thousands of people annually. The cbf continued its leadership and support for advice desks in the state and federal courts and in the city's department of administrative hearings. The cbf also played a lead role in illinois justicecorps, an innovative program through which students serve as guides to make courts across illinois more welcoming for people without lawyers.
$8,516,908 spentof which $6,917,612 as grants91% of program spendingProvided significant grants and other key support to chicago's pro bono and legal aid organizations and related initiatives serving the chicago area. These grants enabled tens of thousands of chicagoans in need to get critical legal advice and assistance; strengthened chicago's pro bono and legal aid system; and supported a number of initiatives that helped make the justice system more user-friendly and accessible. The cbf made other grants to support a variety of access to justice and related philanthropic initiatives, including the cbf's pro bono and public service award grants and grants to projects that educate young people about their legal rights and responsibilities or promote legal or civic-related education.
$518,347 spentof which $421,013 as grants6% of program spendingContinued to host and support the cbf's justice entrepreneurs project (jep), an incubator and network of lawyers who are committed to making quality legal services accessible and affordable to people who cannot afford an attorney in the traditional legal market. The jep provides training, mentoring, and other resources and support to help participants establish sustainable law practices serving this market. Jep lawyers build practices that offer fixed fees and flexible representation options, maximize technology, and leverage traditionally untapped referral networks. In addition, the program identifies successful and replicable practice models, shares innovations, and helps encourage other similar programs across the u.s. And beyond.
$242,783 spent$37,113 earned by the program3% of program spendingInvested in the attorneys dedicating their careers to legal aid. The cbf made it possible for 11 attorneys and law students to pursue careers in legal aid through the cbf's anderson fellowship, the moses public interest scholarship, and the cbf's sponsorship of pili law student internships. In addition, the cbf continued to administer the cbf legal aid academy, an innovative pro bono program through which law firms, legal aid organizations, academic institutions, consultants and other professionals are collaborating to help meet the core training and professional development needs of our community's legal aid attorneys and staff.
$127,552 spentof which $103,600 as grants1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,405,590.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $3.5M to $10M (+191%).
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 25% · 2018 16% · 2019 9% · 2020 13% · 2021 42% · 2022 59% · 2023 64% · 2024 64% · 2025 54%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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
Robert Glaves
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $356k → $720k.
14 of 58 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 58 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
THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
79% 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 CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 67% · 2019 65% · 2020 52% · 2021 43% · 2022 31% · 2023 46% — 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
42% of THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
71% of THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION'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 $1.5M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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 CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like THE CHICAGO BAR 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
94% 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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Chicago Bar Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CHICAGO BAR 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 THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION?
- THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 58 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,111,979 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($2,543,251). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 58 organizations giving $5,111,979 in grants to THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $2,543,251 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHICAGO BAR 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.
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 58 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