Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS
THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS (Illinois) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,029,300 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($3,988,285). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 147
- Grants received
- $29M
- Net assets
- $19M
What The Chicago Council on Global Affairs does
Mission
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides insight on critical global issues, advances policy solutions, and fosters dialogue on what is happening in the world and why it matters to people in chicago, the (see schedule o) united states, and around the globe.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public programming and engagement: engaging the informed and interested public in global affairs by curating relevant, timely content on critical issues and providing a balanced forum for challenging, thoughtful dialogues with global leaders, influencers, and experts.
$1,092,084 spent20% of program spendingEmerging leader's program - globally minded chicago area professionals, ages 35 to 45 are invited to ehance their network by joining the council's premier communiy of visionary leaders from diverse sectors across chicago, united by their global outlook on commitmnet to local action.
$284,583 spent$381,200 earned by the program5% of program spendingLester crown center on us foreign policy: influencing discourse and decisions on important us foreign policy and national security issues by researching public opinion and producing original policy analysis.
$156,128 spent3% of program spendingAll other programs - including center on global cities, and conferences
$3,879,484 spent72% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,412,279.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $37M to $30M (−19%).
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.
91% of THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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
John Ettelson
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 45 funders to 43 funders, grant income fell $4.5M → $2.0M.
19 of 147 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $8.0M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago). These are real filings, and they are not money THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS raised.
From the IRS filings of THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 147 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 COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
38% 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 COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 21% · 2019 40% · 2020 29% · 2021 29% · 2022 29% · 2023 10% — 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
40% of THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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 CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS's revenue fell 63% between 2018 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,608 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS
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
45% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: 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 COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS?
- THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS (Illinois) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,029,300 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($3,988,285). 95 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS have?
- IRS filings report 147 organizations giving $29,029,300 in grants to THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS, 95 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,988,285 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS 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 Chicago Council on Global Affairs →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 147 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