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Illinois · Nonprofit

The Springboard Foundation

The Springboard Foundation (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $613,739 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($194,020). 10 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 FY2020
$329k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$614k
Net assets
$0
10/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 34%
01What it does

What The Springboard Foundation does

Mission

The mission of the Springboard Foundation is to provide financial and intellectual capital to selected "grass roots" charitable programs that otherwise would have difficulty obtaining financial support. Springboard's primary focus is afterschool and supplemental education programs. Since inception, Springboard has helped numerous programs grow and become self-sustaining, so that they can continue to provide Chicago public school students with educational and out-of-school activities that are so critical to personal growth and success. In addition to contributing funds to Springboard, Springboard members go on site visits to meet nonprofit leaders and see their programs in action. During the year, members maintain contact with the nonprofits and marshal all of the resources at their disposal time, treasure, knowledge, and network to ensure that they grow into sustainable organizations.

As stated on its FY2020 Form 990.

Program

The Springboard Foundation is a philanthropic grant making institution that supports the mission of The Chicago Community Trust and The Chicago Community Foundation through granting funds to charitable organizations within a designated class or purpose.

The first program described on its most recent Form 990, which lists programs largest first by expense.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($422k) Expenses 100 ($501k) Net assets 100 ($249k)2019 Revenue 126 ($533k) Expenses 127 ($636k) Net assets 59 ($146k)2020 Revenue 78 ($329k) Expenses 95 ($475k) Net assets 0 ($0)
201820192020
Revenue (78)Expenses (95)Net assets (0)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $194k to $0 (−100%).

$271k
$194k
$0
201820192020
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.

2018
2019
2020
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.

−$78k
’18
−$103k
’19
−$146k
’20
3.7
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.

201820192020
Listed121211
Joined·+2+2
No longer listed·23
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $119k → $27k.

3 of 12 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 Springboard Foundation’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 Springboard Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 Springboard Foundation.

32%
largest funder
75%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 64% · 2019 51% · 2020 33% · 2021 68% · 2022 36% · 2023 57% — 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

70% of The Springboard Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 83% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

61% of The Springboard Foundation'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 $238k that is directly attributable, 81% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
WI
TX
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $376k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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

Organizations like The Springboard 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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 7%Fundraising 2%

Governance

6
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 8 related entities

  • The Chicago Community Foundation · exempt
  • The Chicago Community Trust · exempt
  • The Pert Foundation · exempt
  • The Community Foundation of Will County · exempt
  • The Lake County Community Foundation · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Springboard 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.

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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 Springboard Foundation?
The Springboard Foundation (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $613,739 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($194,020). 10 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 Springboard Foundation have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $613,739 in grants to The Springboard Foundation, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Springboard Foundation?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $194,020 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Springboard 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.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2020 (financials across 2018–2020), and the filings of 12 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