Illinois · Nonprofit
UCAN
UCAN (Illinois) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,356,685 to it, the largest being Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights ($4,846,463). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $75M
- Funders on record
- 105
- Grants received
- $23M
- Net assets
- $61M
What Ucan does
Mission
To build strong youth and families through compassionate healing, education and empowerment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ucan's therapeutic youth home provides a structured, stable and therapeutic living arrangement for youth in the care of the illinois department of children family services. The home works primarily with children and young adults ages 7-18 who have histories of severe trauma, abuse, and neglect. Because of their past experience, the clients are in need of a highly structured, 24-hour-a-day treatment facility to address the behavioral and emotional difficulties that surround their previous exposure to trauma and abuse. Clients in the diermeier therapeutic youth home are offered a wide variety of individualized and group treatment services to aid them in healing and gaining the social and coping skills to graduate from treatments and move to a less restrictive setting.
$15,986,126 spentof which $140,673 as grants$45,377,955 earned by the program30% of program spendingYouth development prevention/other includes multiple violence prevention programs in and around north lawndale, riverdale, and roseland as well as safe passage programs to ensure safety for school aged children walking to school. This area also includes workforce development programs that range from summer jobs programs, internship programs, and job skills training.
$13,936,577 spentof which $3,584,482 as grants26% of program spendingIndependent living/transitional living - provide youth, young adults and teen parents with the skills necessary to live self-sufficiently, and provide a safe environment for the pregnant and/or parenting clients and their children.
$6,585,437 spentof which $727,246 as grants12% of program spendingUcan academy, comprised of two campuses across chicago, is an innovative 1st through 12th grade year-round therapeutic day school. A special education curriculum is used by experienced staff to help students who have experienced difficulties in previous school setting and who benefit from a smaller, more individualized classroom setting. As the largest and one of the most recognized therapeutic day schools in the area, each child enrolled in Ucan academy comes to us with a unique set of needs. We used a staff-intense environment for more one-on-one attention. Our students, while coming from diverse and distinct backgrounds, have all experienced difficulties in public or private school settings. Many have become discouraged about learning. We help them to see schooling in a positive light and to reach their highest potential.
$5,573,040 spentof which $20,602 as grants11% of program spendingUcan's foster parenting program primary goal of foster care is to restore children safely to their families and foster parents play an essential function in helping the child and parents maintain their family bond during the period of separation. If a child cannot return home, foster parents may provide a permanent home. When this happens, the foster parents eventually assume legal responsibility for the child as the guardian or through adoption.
$6,574,191 spentof which $564,580 as grants12% of program spendingUcan's teen parenting service network is a statewide network that works exclusively with pregnant and parenting youth in dcfs care and their children. In managing statewide services for pregnant and parenting youth under a single umbrella, Ucan provides seamless service toplacement providers and pregnant and parenting youth through a continuum of care. Ucan provides a full scope of clinical, training, education and parenting services designed to help young parents coping with the effects of trauma. Ucan starts by meeting youth where they areat, identifying strengths and building from success. Ucan staff members are trained to identify and treat the effects of trauma while enhancing the parenting capacity of youth so that they can be the best parents that they can be.
$2,975,518 spentof which $61,636 as grants6% of program spendingUcan's behavioral health services provide outpatient therapy to people who have experienced trauma. Working with youth, adults and families in a variety of settings, Ucan's culturally diverse counselors and youth development specialists help consumers address such complex issues as abuse, neglect, behavioral problems, separation and loss. We create individualized treatment plans to meet their needs.
$1,329,925 spentof which $62 as grants3% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $52,960,814.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $73M to $81M (+11%).
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: 2017 84% · 2018 88% · 2019 83% · 2020 81% · 2021 81% · 2022 83% · 2023 83% · 2024 87% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
36% of UCAN’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Christa Hamilton
CEO/president
Board chair
Lourdes Gonzalez
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 43 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $4.5M.
17 of 105 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 UCAN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 105 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
UCAN has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
58% 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 UCAN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 27% · 2019 29% · 2020 27% · 2021 15% · 2022 25% · 2023 36% — 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
54% of UCAN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.
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
82% of UCAN's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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.
Against its field
UCAN runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UCAN receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.3M on record.
- Corporation for National and Community Service$7.3M
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.8M
- Department of Justice$200k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like UCAN
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 UCAN: 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 UCAN?
- UCAN (Illinois) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,356,685 to it, the largest being Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights ($4,846,463). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UCAN have?
- IRS filings report 105 organizations giving $23,356,685 in grants to UCAN, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UCAN?
- Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights is the largest funder on record, with $4,846,463 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UCAN 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 Ucan →
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 105 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