Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED
THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED (Illinois) receives grants from 155 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,312,608 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($1,243,340). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $60M
- Funders on record
- 155
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $46M
What The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired does
Mission
Established in 1906, the chicago lighthouse is a leader, innovator, and advocate for people who are blind, visually impaired, veterans and those who have additional disabilities. (continued in schedule o)we offer expert low vision care, education and employment, adaptive technology, and many other services that comprise a broad spectrum of wrap around support. As a result, our broad array of programs and services touch every life stage. In addition, our programs provide the tools, resources, and social support that our clients need to improve their health, build their resiliency, overcome isolation, and lead meaningful lives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The chicago lighthouse contact centers provide customer service through strategic partnerships with healthcare providers and state agencies, creating meaningful employment opportunities for individuals who are blind, visually impaired, have disabilities, or are veterans.
$31,286,551 spentof which $185,355 as grants$42,746,054 earned by the program72% of program spendingThe sandy and rick forsythe center for comprehensive vision care, the bergman institute for psychological support, the pangere partnership for inherited retinal diseases, and the hilton center for prosthetic vision rehabilitation provide comprehensive diagnostic, rehabilitative, psychological, clinical optometric, mobility, assistive technology services, and research in the field of low vision and blindness. Services are provided to patients of all ages at the lighthouse and at a number of satellite locations within the chicago land area. Doctors and therapists are specifically trained in the field of low vision.
$3,343,814 spent$817,191 earned by the program8% of program spendingPrograms for children and youth include: the early intervention/enrichment, the children's development center, and the youth transitions program, all of which, together, provide services and/or opportunities to children and teens, who are multi-disabled, and/or visually impaired or blind, from birth through young adulthood, as well as to their families.
$3,557,730 spent$2,727,403 earned by the program8% of program spendingThe instructional materials center for the state of illinois is administered by the chicago lighthouse and funded through the illinois state board of education. This program also receives an in-kind grant from the american printing house for the blind. Independent living services include programs which are designed to maximize independent living functions in the home, workplace and community at large. Lighthouse employment services/vocational rehabilitation programs provide assistance to people who are blind, low vision, other disabilities or veterans as they prepare for and secure employment. The forsythe entrepreneurial center provides business startup educational workshops and certification programs for people who are blind or visually impaired who want to turn their product or service idea into a real business.
$5,272,450 spentof which $35,708 as grants$612,189 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $43,460,545.
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 2020 to 2021, from $27M to $38M (+37%).
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 7% · 2018 7% · 2019 7% · 2020 9% · 2021 8% · 2022 5% · 2023 7% · 2024 5% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
21% of THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (21% 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
Janet P Szlyk
President & CEO
Board chair
Thomas A Deutsch Md
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 35 funders to 71 funders, grant income rose $680k → $2.1M.
17 of 155 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 155 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 LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 11 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 11 funders to its left
58% 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 LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 21% · 2019 11% · 2020 12% · 2021 13% · 2022 10% · 2023 31% — 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
51% of THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
74% of THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- Department of Defense$827k
- Department of Health and Human Services$250k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 2 related entities
- Chicago Lighthouse Industries · exempt
- Blindsight Delaware Enterprises Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: 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 LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED?
- THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED (Illinois) receives grants from 155 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,312,608 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($1,243,340). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED have?
- IRS filings report 155 organizations giving $13,312,608 in grants to THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED, 105 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $1,243,340 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED 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 155 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