Illinois · Nonprofit
THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC
THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC (Illinois) receives grants from 74 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,663,947 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($2,238,700). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.0M
- Funders on record
- 74
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $17M
What The Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU Inc does
Mission
To facilitate increased understanding and protection of civil liberties and rights through public education and by providing legal advice and legal representation of clients for the purpose of advancing civil liberties.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Justice program: corrections reform project - the project continues to work to improve health care for all persons in illinois prisons. The state continues to lag in implementing a plan to make changes, as noted in reports from court appointed experts. We also are pursuing a lawsuit challenging conditions at the mary davis home, a facility designed to hold youth in detention prior to trial or further adjudication. The home, located in galesburg, has failed to meet constitutional standards, including through improper use of solitary confinement. Police practices project -the project continues to focus this year on implementing a consent decree between the city of chicago and the illinois attorney generals office aimed at improving policing across the city. Our clients and partners have provided valuable input from their members, bringing diverse perspectives and life experiences from all across the city of chicago. The project has spoken out against proposed policies that fail to address input from the public, and those that fall short of the meaningful reform sought by chicago residents and promised under the decree. The project also continues a separate lawsuit against the…
$995,455 spent23% of program spendingInstitutional reform project - the project continues to work to implement deep, much-needed changes designed to improve the lives of children under the care of the department of children and family services. The project focuses on assuring that children under the care of dcfs have access to health care in the wake of the states transfer of the responsibility of health care for children in dcfs to a managed care system. Reports continue to show that children are not receiving the continuing, individualized care they require. We also continue to push the department to create a meaningful program to develop community based resources and strengthen other supports for foster families caring for children in dcfs custody. This year we continued working with the department under an implementation plan to guide improvements in conditions for youth under the care of dcfs. The project also is working to implement consent decrees in three (3) separate lawsuits designed to move hundreds of persons with developmental and physical disabilities - as well as those experiencing mental illness - from large institutional settings into the community consistent with the americans with disabilities act.
$947,823 spent22% of program spendingWomens & reproductive rights project - in the wake of the us supreme court decision that ended the right to an abortion that had been recognized for nearly 50 years, the projects role as the primary legal resource for reproductive health care providers from all across the state of illinois is more important than ever. The project plays a critical role for health care providers, large medical institutions, and legislators about how illinois law protects patients and providers in illinois and recommends appropriate steps to build in additional protections for abortion care in our state. The project also challenged the lack of appropriate pumping and breastfeeding facilities for new parents across the state. We continue to work to ensure that the reproductive health act in illinois is enforced in a range of areas across the state of illinois.
$845,002 spent20% of program spendingOther programs at the organization: hiv and civil liberties project, first amendment program, childrens initiative program, privacy & technology program, lgbtq rights project, criminal legal system and policing project, communications program, legislative program, mental health and disability right initiative program. Revenue: attorney fee awards totaling $351,890 earned in fy25, designated for future use.
$1,510,228 spent$351,890 earned by the program35% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,298,508.
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 2024 to 2025, from $17M to $20M (+18%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Colleen Connell
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 23 funders to 31 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $1.5M.
19 of 74 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.5M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 74 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 ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% 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 ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 35% · 2019 35% · 2020 25% · 2021 19% · 2022 16% · 2023 25% — 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
43% of THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC'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
68% of THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.2M 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.
Organizations like THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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
- American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU 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.
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 ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC?
- THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC (Illinois) receives grants from 74 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,663,947 to it, the largest being JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ($2,238,700). 50 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC have?
- IRS filings report 74 organizations giving $14,663,947 in grants to THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC, 50 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC?
- JOHN D AND CATHERINE T MACARTHUR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,238,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU 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.
Play a game about who funds Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU →
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 74 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