Illinois · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC
UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC (Illinois) receives grants from 244 organizations whose IRS filings report $127,217,961 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($26,774,451). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $47M
- Funders on record
- 244
- Grants received
- $127M
- Net assets
- $37M
What United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc does
Mission
United way of metro chicago brings together and activates people, resources, and expertise to improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Impact grantsfor more than 90 years, united way of metro chicago ("united way") has mobilized private and philanthropic support, as well as public sector resources, to build thriving communities. We invest in organizations across the region to provide the building blocks to stabilize households and achieve community-identified goals via access to health care, housing, safety from abuse, food assistance, early learning, workforce development, and legal assistance.united way of metro chicago grounds its grantmaking in local data, community input, and insights from organizations and leaders with deep knowledge of community needs. We focus on supporting (see schedule o) high-quality direct service programs that respond to the most pressing needs of community members across our key focus areas.we believe in a collaborative and community-led approach to philanthropy one that values the expertise of those delivering services and creates space for ongoing feedback, shared learning, and innovation. Our grants are unrestricted, so partners can apply funding where it is needed most from staffing and service delivery to organizational infrastructure and growth. United way of metro chicago's…
$10,840,548 spentof which $6,329,385 as grants26% of program spendingNeighborhood networks at united way of metro chicago, we work alongside local neighborhood leaders to help identify community priorities and create a resident-driven neighborhood strategy. This place-based approach is led by the community quarterback, an agency that helps bring to the table all the people, resources, and ideas needed to execute community plans. United way provides funding, capacity building, and connections. We then work on the ground with the community quarterback to develop and support their work in the areas of economic and workforce development, education, housing, safety, and more. United way of metro chicago supports networks in 17 neighborhoods: auburn gresham, (see schedule o) austin, blue island/robbins, brighton park, bronzeville, chicago heights/ford heights, elgin, englewood, evanston, far south, garfield park, harvey, little village, park forest/richton park, south chicago, summit, and west chicago.some major developments & outcomes:- united way partners in west garfield park broke ground on sankofa village wellness center, a new hub that will bring essential health resources, education, and economic development to the neighborhood. - the park…
$15,063,182 spentof which $8,794,821 as grants$189,060 earned by the program37% of program spendingThe critical work of united way requires significant resources. Support is raised through a diversified revenue model. United way conducts workplace giving campaigns, receives individual and major gifts, and is awarded grants from private foundations and the local, state, and federal government. Strategic efforts are in place to further grow significant revenue from grants and individual giving. Other program service achievements include designations by donors to other 501(c)(3) organizations.
$10,722,078 spentof which $10,722,078 as grants26% of program spendingOther projects (chicago bridgebuilders fund 211 metro chicago)more than $2.5 million was invested to support the organization's special initiatives and investments, including the chicago bridgebuilders fund and 211 metro chicago during the fy25 period of july 1, 2024, to june 30, 2025. Chicago bridgebuilders fundchicago bridgebuilders fund (cbbf) launched in the fall of 2021 to support small, local nonprofit organizations serving the south and west sides of the city and the south suburbs. Cbbf is designed to connect grantees to new capacity-building and investment opportunities that meet their needs and advance their long-term goals.the cohort-based program incorporates the following components:- unrestricted funding: funding two-year general operating grant award (up to $50,000 total)- networking and relationship building: cohort model with agency peers, building cross-sector relationships and networking with potential funders and investors- capacity building: individual and group capacity-building sessions with depaul university faculty and other professionals - holistic support approach: targets organizations with an annual budget of less than $1m that often don't qualify for…
$4,370,000 spentof which $2,551,479 as grants11% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $40,995,808.
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 $26M to $49M (+91%).
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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 7% · 2022 1% · 2023 8% · 2024 16% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% 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
Linda T Coberly
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 31 funders to 71 funders, grant income rose $2.3M → $12M.
27 of 244 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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: $33M from 49 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Chicago Community Trust). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 244 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 METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
59% 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 METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 12% · 2019 12% · 2020 14% · 2021 58% · 2022 28% · 2023 12% — 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
27% of UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
54% of UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO 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 $58M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $69M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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 METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC is better cushioned than half of the 490 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $714k on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$714k
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 UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO 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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- United Way - McCormick Partnership · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO 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 UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC?
- UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC (Illinois) receives grants from 244 organizations whose IRS filings report $127,217,961 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($26,774,451). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC have?
- IRS filings report 244 organizations giving $127,217,961 in grants to UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC, 119 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $26,774,451 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO 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.
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 244 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