Illinois · Nonprofit
TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC
TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $133,333 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($83,333). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $242k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $133k
- Net assets
- $-66700
What Tools Up Foundation Inc does
Mission
To revitalize the community through empowering participants with the essential tools and opportunities to establish a sustainable livelihood through construction careers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
In addition to pave the way up and tuf teens, we ran build up
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
A program to empower and prepare teens ages 14-17 for a future career in the construction industry. Over 200 teenagers applied, we recruited our 1st cohort and met all objectives which provided skill trades vocational exploration,mental health support, student services support,financial literacy, wealth building and a stipend.
$484,455 spent100% of program spendingTen week pre-apprenticeship program designed to introduce students to various trades within the construction industry. Last year we had over 225 young adults applied for our construction workforce development pre-apprenticeship program and had 99% attendance rate, 90% passed construction vocational exams and 80% of those interested in continuing to pursue a construction career, successfully transitioned into construction jobs.
Build up is our new program in operation this year. This program is an adult construction project management training program tailored to equip participants with the necessary skills for entry-level field and office project management roles in the construction industry. We completed two cohorts this year.
$8,040 earned by the program
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $484,455.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $95k to $43k (−55%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2023 93% · 2024 83% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (54% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC’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
TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
81% 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 TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC.
“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.
Where its funders are
62% of TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC'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 $50k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Illinois funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $83k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Against its field
TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than half of the 1,448 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,448 employment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like TOOLS UP FOUNDATION 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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TOOLS UP FOUNDATION 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 TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC?
- TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $133,333 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($83,333). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $133,333 in grants to TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TOOLS UP FOUNDATION INC?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $83,333 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TOOLS UP FOUNDATION 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 Tools Up →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 3 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