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Illinois · Nonprofit

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 181 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,409,875 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,768,139). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$12M
Funders on record
181
Grants received
$17M
Net assets
$5.3M
101/181 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What Thomas More Society does

Mission

The primary exempt purpose of the organization is to operate as a public interest law firm for the purpose of advancing and protecting public interest, basic human rights, and fundamental civil and constitutional rights. Conducts ongoing public awareness campaigns to report on the status of court cases being handled by Thomas More Society attorneys and related legal developments affecting public's interest in pro-life and religious liberty in the united states.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Advancing and protecting public interest, basic human rights, and fundamental civil, and constitutional rights through the practice of law. Conducts ongoing public awareness campaigns to report on the status of court cases being handled by Thomas More Society attorneys and related legal developments affecting public's interest in pro-life and religious liberty in the united states.

    $8,823,890 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,823,890.

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 ($4.7M) Expenses 100 ($4.8M) Net assets 100 ($544k)2018 Revenue 129 ($6.1M) Expenses 114 ($5.5M) Net assets 199 ($1.1M)2019 Revenue 204 ($9.6M) Expenses 180 ($8.7M) Net assets 361 ($2.0M)2020 Revenue 370 ($17M) Expenses 294 ($14M) Net assets 1000 ($5.4M)2021 Revenue 302 ($14M) Expenses 274 ($13M) Net assets 1059 ($5.8M)2022 Revenue 285 ($13M) Expenses 337 ($16M) Net assets 526 ($2.9M)2023 Revenue 282 ($13M) Expenses 279 ($14M) Net assets 483 ($2.6M)2024 Revenue 253 ($12M) Expenses 213 ($10M) Net assets 776 ($4.2M)2025 Revenue 264 ($12M) Expenses 234 ($11M) Net assets 981 ($5.3M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (264)Expenses (234)Net assets (981)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 2019 to 2020, from $2.0M to $5.5M (+169%).

$590k
$1.1M
$2.0M
$5.5M
$5.8M
$2.9M
$2.7M
$4.3M
$5.6M
'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

87% of THOMAS MORE SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (95% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 270 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$138k
’17
$539k
’18
$883k
’19
$3.2M
’20
$924k
’21
−$2.9M
’22
−$232k
’23
$1.6M
’24
$1.1M
’25
5.2
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.

Board chair

Ann Scheidler

Chairman of

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed6888779910
Joined·+2+1+0+0+0+2+0+1
No longer listed·01010000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 79 funders, grant income rose $456k → $3.1M.

37 of 181 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 THOMAS MORE SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 181 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

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

67% 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 THOMAS MORE SOCIETY.

16%
largest funder
42%
top three
~12
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 30% · 2019 26% · 2020 61% · 2021 36% · 2022 26% · 2023 22% — 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

45% of THOMAS MORE SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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

68% of THOMAS MORE SOCIETY'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 $5.2M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 38 states.

WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
KS
TN
NC
SC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
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. $11M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 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

THOMAS MORE SOCIETY holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 165 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve5.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)13% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 165 crime & legal nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like THOMAS MORE SOCIETY

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

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 10%Fundraising 12%

Governance

7
board members
57%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THOMAS MORE SOCIETY: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 THOMAS MORE SOCIETY?
THOMAS MORE SOCIETY (Illinois) receives grants from 181 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,409,875 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,768,139). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does THOMAS MORE SOCIETY have?
IRS filings report 181 organizations giving $17,409,875 in grants to THOMAS MORE SOCIETY, 101 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THOMAS MORE SOCIETY?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,768,139 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THOMAS MORE SOCIETY 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 Thomas More Society →

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 181 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