Illinois · Nonprofit
THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,142 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($241,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $523k
- Net assets
- $148k
What The Institute of Cultural Affairs does
Mission
Building a just and equitable society in harmony with planet earth. ICA has realized this mission through locally-led sustainable community development initiatives which assist people to visualize, plan, and implement consensus-based strategies
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Technology of participation training programs used by hundreds of organizations, government agencies, professional associations and local communities. The programs teach team members how to collaborate on projects and facilitators how to effectively lead their team with the expectation that all team members actively participate and contribute to the successful completion of each task.
$1,321,278 spent$1,201,472 earned by the program87% of program spendingOther programs designed to strengthen capacities for sustainability among individuals, organizations, and communities, including the archives program. Our aim is to share, through our archives, the experiences and tools from an energetic 20th century peoples movement for social justice and human development with todays citizen activists, civic leaders, thinkers and students.
$193,922 spent$4,702 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,515,200.
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.
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 $441k to $657k (+49%).
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: 2020 14% · 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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.
Board chair
Jessica Payne
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $88k → $8k.
5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS’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 INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 80% · 2019 45% · 2020 100% · 2021 94% · 2022 60% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
94% of THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS'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 $33k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $491k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.
Government funding THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5k on record.
- OR$2k
- FL$2k
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 INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL 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
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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
- The Ecumenical Institute · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL 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 INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS?
- THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS (Illinois) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $523,142 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($241,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $523,142 in grants to THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $241,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL 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 Institute of Cultural Affairs →
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 7 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