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Illinois · Nonprofit

UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER

UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,800 to it, the largest being THE KARA FOUNDATION ($75,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$89k
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$145k
Net assets
$16k
3/6 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 40%
01What it does

What United Spinal Association Illinois Chapter does

Mission

provide services for individuals with spinal cord injuries and educate the public regarding spinal cord injuries and related issues, including prevention.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Program

  1. Our mission: provide services for individuals with spinal cord injuries and related issues, including prevention. Client service -- provided support for individuals by helping with equipment acquisitions, including pass through donations, answering hundreds of calls seeking various information. Peer support provided to newly-injured individuals, families, and caregivers. Community service--provided support 'Think First" prevention programs were presented at local area schools and other group forms. Public information --Worked with health professionals, policy makers, and the community as a whole to educate and generate an understanding of the lifelong effect of spinal cord injuries.

    $0 spent

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($134k) Expenses 100 ($140k) Net assets 100 ($26k)2019 Revenue 142 ($191k) Expenses 135 ($188k) Net assets 110 ($29k)2020 Revenue 100 ($134k) Expenses 86 ($120k) Net assets 135 ($35k)2022 Revenue 65 ($87k) Expenses 71 ($100k) Net assets 101 ($26k)2023 Revenue 52 ($70k) Expenses 65 ($91k) Net assets 23 ($6k)2024 Revenue 96 ($129k) Expenses 67 ($94k) Net assets 156 ($41k)2025 Revenue 66 ($89k) Expenses 81 ($113k) Net assets 63 ($16k)
2018201920202022202320242025
Revenue (66)Expenses (81)Net assets (63)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 2023 to 2024, from $6k to $41k (+584%).

$39k
$33k
$35k
$26k
$6k
$41k
$16k
2018201920202022202320242025
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.

2018
2019
2020
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,214 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$6k
’18
$3k
’19
$13k
’20
−$13k
’22
−$20k
’23
$35k
’24
−$24k
’25
1.5
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.

Chief executive

Mercedes Rauen

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $10k → $28k.

2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER’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

UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 99%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

48% 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 UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER.

52%
largest funder
99%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 58% · 2021 98% · 2022 51% · 2023 71% — 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.

Where its funders are

100% of UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
NY
NC

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. $6k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER has grown faster than half of the 6,360 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−27% · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−6% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,360 health nonprofits under $100k, FY2025

Organizations like UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER

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.

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 UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER: 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 UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER?
UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $144,800 to it, the largest being THE KARA FOUNDATION ($75,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $144,800 in grants to UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER?
THE KARA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $75,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like UNITED SPINAL ASSOCIATION ILLINOIS CHAPTER 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 United Spinal Association Illinois Chapter →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 6 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