Illinois · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,242,089 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($499,257). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $675k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $859k
What United Way of McLean County does
Mission
United Way of McLean County improves lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community to advance the common good. Together, we will: connect and engage all sectors of our community, leverage community resources, and hold ourselves and others accountable.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Pathways 2 prosperity: this program is helping residents find future stability through workforce development, educational access, mental health support, and more. Uwmc seeks to increase prosperity by addressing the circumstances and root causes that lead to more than 26,000 mclean county households that struggle financially. In 2025, united way's workforce180 initiative included over 100 young people in various phases of the initiative - from intake to financial self-sufficiency and all points in between. This includes over 20 young people employed in the workforce in mclean county, many of whom are breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty. Workforce180 removes any barriers that these at-risk youth may face, supporting them financially when necessary as well as through mentors and other wraparound supports. In addition to this, uwmc addresses mental health issues affecting local teens through our support of the bridge academy, as well as our thrivemind initiative in partnership with carle bromenn. Youth behavioral health needs represent a continuum, and united way has adopted a strategy of supporting these efforts at various points along this continuum.
$522,076 spent71% of program spendingCommunity partnerships: programs to assist in building bridges between service providers to close gaps for a service-based approach for residents. In 2023, two initiatives came online that promote literacy and/or access to services. The dolly parton imagination library is a partnership between uwmc and the dollywood foundation and provides a book per month, free to the families, for any eligible child (under 5) in mclean county. Nearly 2,600 kids have signed up at this point. United way, along with other investors, helped carle bromenn purchase a brand new mobile medical unit that operates throughout mclean county to provide access to medical services, with a particular emphasis on reaching neighborhoods and communities that experience the greatest disparity in positive health outcomes.
$147,968 spentof which $12,800 as grants20% of program spending180united: programs that serve to educate community members about the crisis in our county and our innovative approach for prosperity and well- being.
$65,985 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $736,029.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.6M to $2.3M (+46%).
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: 2021 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Board chair
Dale Avery
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $6k → $210k.
7 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 76% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $104k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 18 of 19 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
UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
91% 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 WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 93% · 2020 76% · 2021 51% · 2022 66% · 2023 73% — 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
42% of UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
76% of UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY'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 $297k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $945k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY is better cushioned than half of the 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY: 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 UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY?
- UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY (Illinois) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,242,089 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($499,257). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 76% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,242,089 in grants to UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $499,257 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF MCLEAN COUNTY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 19 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