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Illinois · Nonprofit

THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION

THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $182,458 to it, the largest being CLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($80,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2026
$167k
Funders on record
16
Grants received
$182k
Net assets
$151k
13/16 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 33%
01What it does

What The Winnetka Public Schools Foundation does

Mission

Raise funds for winnetka public schools

As stated on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. Enrich the curriculum of winnetka public schools and provide, where possible, innovative learning opportunities for winnetkas children.

    $170,562 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $170,562.

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 ($120k) Expenses 100 ($242k) Net assets 100 ($223k)2018 Revenue 96 ($116k) Expenses 52 ($126k) Net assets 96 ($213k)2019 Revenue 101 ($122k) Expenses 57 ($137k) Net assets 89 ($198k)2020 Revenue 105 ($127k) Expenses 30 ($71k) Net assets 113 ($253k)2021 Revenue 74 ($89k) Expenses 52 ($125k) Net assets 97 ($217k)2022 Revenue 99 ($120k) Expenses 13 ($31k) Net assets 137 ($306k)2023 Revenue 93 ($112k) Expenses 56 ($136k) Net assets 127 ($283k)2024 Revenue 113 ($136k) Expenses 104 ($251k) Net assets 76 ($168k)2025 Revenue 124 ($149k) Expenses 61 ($147k) Net assets 76 ($170k)2026 Revenue 139 ($167k) Expenses 77 ($186k) Net assets 68 ($151k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26
Revenue (139)Expenses (77)Net assets (68)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $283k to $168k (−40%).

$223k
$213k
$198k
$253k
$217k
$306k
$283k
$168k
$170k
$151k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25'26
Total assets

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
2026
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 25,057 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 10 reported years ran a deficit.

−$121k
’17
−$10k
’18
−$15k
’19
$55k
’20
−$36k
’21
$89k
’22
−$23k
’23
−$115k
’24
$2k
’25
−$19k
’26

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

Kate Fortman

Co-chairman

As listed on its FY2026 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $2k → $33k.

3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 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 WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

31% 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 WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION.

44%
largest funder
80%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 48% · 2019 62% · 2020 86% · 2021 79% · 2022 78% · 2023 76% — 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

33% of THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 81% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

95% of THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NC
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. $57k 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

Against its field

THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−12% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,238 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2026

Organizations like THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 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.

Public support

99%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 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 WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $182,458 to it, the largest being CLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($80,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $182,458 in grants to THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
CLESS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 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 Winnetka Public Schools →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 16 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