Illinois · Nonprofit
THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION
THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,566,507 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($3,055,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 117
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $8.1M
What The Chicago Scholars Foundation does
Mission
Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Chicago scholars offers an innovative seven-year program lasting fromthe summer before their senior year of high school through the senioryear of college and ending with two years of leadership development. Intheir first year of programming, scholars work closely with collegecounselors, mentors and peers to apply to colleges and universitiesthat are their right match, fit and financial fit. Our holisticapproach strives for our scholars to find the colleges and universitieswhere they can build community and foster belonging. Chicago scholarsprovides scholars enrolled in college unique scholarship opportunities,continued mentorship and a community of people who care, so that ourscholars persist through college, thrive in their studies and graduatewith degrees that lead to meaningful careers, higher salaries andeconomic mobility. Chicago scholars career programming helps ourscholars gain access to the key internships, opportunities, andnetworks that will lead them to their first jobs and launchlife-changing careers. Each year chicago scholars works to improve itsprograms, services and partnerships. To date, more than 6,000 chicagoscholars are in or have completed the program. 88% of…
$4,325,547 spentof which $213,017 as grants$267,875 earned by the program82% of program spendingReach pathways, l3c: in may 2024, chicago scholars transitioned its single member limited liability company, reach pathways, llc (reach) to a multi-member low-profit limited liability compaby (l3c), with the intention of expending access to the foundation's proven curriculum to more under-resourced students through tehnology and generating new potential revenue opportunities to diversify the foundation's revenues.reach is the college and career pathway for under-resourced students in an innovative technology platform. Reach connects students with colleges and companies.
$941,632 spent$33,701 earned by the program18% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,267,179.
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 $8.1M to $9.9M (+23%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 19% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Jeffery Beckham Jr
CEO
Board chair
Nate Ulery
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $4.0M.
21 of 117 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 SCHOLARS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 117 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 SCHOLARS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 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 CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 32% · 2019 54% · 2020 17% · 2021 11% · 2022 15% · 2023 17% — 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
46% of THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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 SCHOLARS 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. $8.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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 SCHOLARS FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS 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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
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
- Reach Pathways L3c · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS 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 SCHOLARS FOUNDATION?
- THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,566,507 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($3,055,000). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 117 organizations giving $24,566,507 in grants to THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION, 63 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $3,055,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS 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.
Play a game about who funds Chicago Scholars →
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 117 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