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Illinois · Nonprofit

THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC

THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $82,403 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1.6M
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$82k
Net assets
$31M
2/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 4%
01What it does

What The Cornerstone Foundation Inc does

Mission

Responding to the gospel, the cornerstone foundation is the endowment ensuring the ministries and future of lutheran social services of illinois (lssi). The cornerstone foundation is responsible for developing active support for the social services provided by lssi. Lssi touches the lives of tens of thousands of people each year, serving people of all ages, races, religious, and economic circumstances. Lssi has more than 190 programs at more than 80 sites in the state of illinois. These programs care for senior adults, strengthen families, help children and adults during times of crisis, and assist those who have challenges related to developmental disabilities or addiction problems.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Lutheran social services of illinois program service grants.

    $1,200,039 spentof which $1,200,039 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,200,039.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($386k) Expenses 100 ($866k) Net assets 100 ($21M)2018 Revenue 86 ($332k) Expenses 112 ($967k) Net assets 99 ($21M)2019 Revenue 203 ($785k) Expenses 106 ($915k) Net assets 98 ($21M)2020 Revenue 133 ($514k) Expenses 96 ($828k) Net assets 97 ($20M)2021 Revenue 195 ($753k) Expenses 52 ($453k) Net assets 107 ($22M)2022 Revenue 550 ($2.1M) Expenses 73 ($630k) Net assets 100 ($21M)2023 Revenue 486 ($1.9M) Expenses 79 ($688k) Net assets 114 ($24M)2024 Revenue 838 ($3.2M) Expenses 111 ($960k) Net assets 138 ($29M)2025 Revenue 424 ($1.6M) Expenses 155 ($1.3M) Net assets 149 ($31M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (424)Expenses (155)Net assets (149)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $25M to $30M (+21%).

$22M
$21M
$21M
$21M
$23M
$22M
$25M
$30M
$32M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

14% of THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$480k
’17
−$634k
’18
−$130k
’19
−$315k
’20
$300k
’21
$1.5M
’22
$1.2M
’23
$2.3M
’24
$301k
’25
1.3
months of
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

Mark A Stutrud

CEO

Board chair

Pr Michel Clark

Chairperson

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed343331252525252424
Joined·+3+1+8+2+0+1+0+0
No longer listed·431420110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $1k → $1k.

2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC’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 CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

61% 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 CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC.

61%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 97% · 2021 97% · 2022 66% · 2023 98% — broadly stable.

“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.

Where its funders are

61% of THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC'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 $32k that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 2 states.

IL
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin18% · top quartile
Months of reserve1.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 6%Fundraising 4%

Governance

21
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Part of a family of 22 related entities

  • Lutheran Social Services of Illinois · exempt
  • Matins Inc · exempt
  • Forsberg Christian Retirement Center Inc · exempt
  • Assisi Homes - Downer Place Inc · exempt
  • Aurora Senior Housing Inc · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC: 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.

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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 CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC?
THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $82,403 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $82,403 in grants to THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE CORNERSTONE FOUNDATION INC 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 4 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