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Illinois · Nonprofit

THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP

THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $712,041 to it, the largest being Network for Good ($612,846). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

$485k
Revenue FY2024
8
Funders on record
$712k
Grants received
$429k
Net assets
3/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%

Against its field

THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP is better cushioned than half of the 22,771 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin4% · below the median
Months of reserve10.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−7% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,771 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The 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 ($833k) Expenses 100 ($798k) Net assets 100 ($406k)2018 Revenue 93 ($772k) Expenses 99 ($790k) Net assets 96 ($388k)2019 Revenue 67 ($559k) Expenses 81 ($645k) Net assets 74 ($302k)2020 Revenue 63 ($527k) Expenses 59 ($469k) Net assets 89 ($360k)2021 Revenue 56 ($465k) Expenses 52 ($413k) Net assets 102 ($412k)2022 Revenue 50 ($416k) Expenses 56 ($450k) Net assets 93 ($379k)2023 Revenue 55 ($461k) Expenses 54 ($428k) Net assets 101 ($412k)2024 Revenue 58 ($485k) Expenses 59 ($468k) Net assets 106 ($429k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (58)Expenses (59)Net assets (106)Peer revenue range

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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 4% · 2021 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

6% of THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,851 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$35k
17
$18k
18
$86k
19
$58k
20
$52k
21
$34k
22
$33k
23
$17k
24
10
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $105k → $90k.

5 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)97% 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 THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP’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

THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP.

86%
largest funder
96%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 89% · 2018 94% · 2019 59% · 2020 82% · 2021 63% · 2022 100% · 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.

How long its funders stay

50% of THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

97% of THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP'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 $20k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NC

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

18
20
21
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $692k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 statesis 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Organizations like THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Illinois

Nationally

04Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 11%Fundraising 3%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited 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 THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP?
THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP (Illinois) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $712,041 to it, the largest being Network for Good ($612,846). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $712,041 in grants to THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP?
Network for Good is the largest funder on record, with $612,846 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THOUSAND WAVES FOUNDATION NFP 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 8funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing