Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION
THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $850,113 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($143,500). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 7,105 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,105 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- University of Chicagoshared funders
- The Commercial Club Foundationportfolio match
- Prime Coalition Incportfolio match
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 10 funders, grant income rose $5k → $208k.
6 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 INNOVATION FOUNDATION’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 CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
51% 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 INNOVATION FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 63% · 2021 53% · 2022 22% · 2023 21% — 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 THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
80% of THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $348k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 16 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- University of Chicagoshared fundersIL · backs 57 organizations that share your funders
- The Commercial Club Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Prime Coalition Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Onechicagofundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The David and Lynne Weinberg Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Stephen and Christy King Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Service Employees International Illinois Councilportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- World Business Chicagoportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Kay Torshen Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Lavin Family Supporting Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Robert R McCormick Foundationshared funderslocalIL · backs 74 organizations that share your funders · funds 426 organizations near you
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CHICAGO INNOVATION 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION?
- THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $850,113 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($143,500). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $850,113 in grants to THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $143,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHICAGO INNOVATION 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 16funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing