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Illinois · Nonprofit

TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC

TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,616,755 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($692,570). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.3M
Funders on record
37
Grants received
$3.6M
Net assets
$871k
16/37 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 56%
01What it does

What True Star Foundation Inc does

Mission

To provide creative a outlet in literary and professional development youth programs. Its programs expose youth to real world experiences particularly in the fields of publishing, marketing and entertainment.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Program accomplishments during the year included: -maintained program increase,each session services 100-150 students -implementation of True Star Jr summer session-2 Short Films -partnered with State Farm; students created safe driving campaign

    $75,000 spentof which $75,000 as grants$75,000 earned by the program
    6% of program spending
  2. Youth Curated Violence Prevention Festival-Go Fest for 1000 particpants attened

    $100,000 spentof which $95,715 as grants$100,000 earned by the program
    8% of program spending
  3. Various Afterschool Programs that supported 50 youth with training on Podcast creation, content and media training.

    $1,004,673 spentof which $604,183 as grants$604,183 earned by the program
    85% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,179,673.

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 ($595k) Expenses 100 ($571k) Net assets 100 ($13k)2018 Revenue 111 ($661k) Expenses 117 ($667k) Net assets 56 ($7k)2019 Revenue 112 ($666k) Expenses 106 ($606k) Net assets 519 ($67k)2020 Revenue 134 ($798k) Expenses 107 ($611k) Net assets 1974 ($253k)2021 Revenue 191 ($1.1M) Expenses 153 ($877k) Net assets 3518 ($451k)2022 Revenue 126 ($749k) Expenses 170 ($969k) Net assets 1804 ($231k)2023 Revenue 260 ($1.5M) Expenses 235 ($1.3M) Net assets 3604 ($462k)2024 Revenue 387 ($2.3M) Expenses 324 ($1.8M) Net assets 6795 ($871k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (387)Expenses (324)Net assets (6795)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 2022 to 2023, from $414k to $964k (+133%).

$67k
$47k
$99k
$451k
$613k
$414k
$964k
$1.1M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 17% · 2018 19% · 2019 19% · 2020 16% · 2021 22% · 2022 17% · 2023 44% · 2024 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

61% of TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$23k
’17
−$6k
’18
$59k
’19
$187k
’20
$261k
’21
−$220k
’22
$206k
’23
$452k
’24
5.1
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed814141012121212
Joined·+6+0+1+3+0+0+8
No longer listed·0051008
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $67k → $868k.

8 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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

TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

68% 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 TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC.

19%
largest funder
39%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 61% · 2019 73% · 2020 24% · 2021 35% · 2022 27% · 2023 23% — 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

25% of TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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

96% of TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

MN
IL
NY
OH
CA
MD

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. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin20% · above the median
Months of reserve5.1mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)21% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like TRUE STAR 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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

95% of spending goes to programs.

Program 95%Management 5%Fundraising 0%

Governance

10
board members
100%
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.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRUE STAR 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.

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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 TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC?
TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC (Illinois) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,616,755 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($692,570). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $3,616,755 in grants to TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of TRUE STAR FOUNDATION INC?
The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $692,570 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like TRUE STAR 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 True Star →

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 37 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