Illinois · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY
UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY (Illinois) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,965,406 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($768,175). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $5.0M
- Net assets
- $11M
What United Way of Rock River Valley does
Mission
Uniting the collective power of the community to improve lives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
United way community services - united way 2-1-1 is a 24 hour/7-day, information and referral hotline that connects those in need to available resources in the community. It is designed to connect residents to community resources for their most critical needs, 211 has fielded almost 4,300 calls this year from residents of winnebago county. This line is free, confidential, and open 24/7 and callers can gain access to resources for rent and utility assistance, childcare, clothing food, mental health care, and more. United way's strong neighborhoods initiative: through our strong neighboorhood houses. United way supports the work of local nonprofits by providing them space for free. The organizations were strategically chosen to serve the surrounding community as a reflection of need in that area. From drug awarenexx to suicide prevention to housing acquisition supports, each nonprofit serves to enhance and build up the neighboorhoods where the houses exists. In two of three houses, the local police departments have a strong presence, providing neighbors security while breaking down the walls of prejudice on both sides.
$1,527,500 spentof which $1,527,500 as grants59% of program spendingThe united way move the middle initiative is aimed at middle school success, our move the middle initiative has reached nearly 2,000 middle school students from lincoln and resar, resulting in 15400 resource referrals, and provided students with the help they need to get back on track. When middle schoolers stay on track, they become successful high schoolers and eventually employed, contributing adults.
$7,144 spent0% of program spendingUnited for literacy, only 32% of children can read at grade level by the end of third grade. This is a crisis that adversely affects these children's ability to succeed in school, graduate and lead successful adult lives. Our bold goal through our united for literacy initiative is to increase our counties childhood literacy rate to 75% by the year 2034. We do this in the impact areas of read alouds, increasing parent involvement, widespread book distribution, increasing community awareness about the importance of reading to children and more. This past year we reached 10,122 children, trained 200 new volunteers, distributed 63,254 books, provided for 48 literacy events for children and 31 family literacy events and engaged volunteers for 16 classrooms in the harlem school district.
$1,038,619 spentof which $14,568 as grants40% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,573,263.
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 $9.7M to $11M (+17%).
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 0% · 2021 5% · 2022 10% · 2025 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Julie Bosma
CEO
Board chair
Mark Baldwin
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $242k → $507k.
11 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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: $11k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Federation of Labor & Cong). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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 ROCK RIVER VALLEY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% 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
56% 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 ROCK RIVER VALLEY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 39% · 2019 31% · 2020 32% · 2021 51% · 2022 46% · 2023 21% — 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
46% of UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
50% of UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY'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 $2.5M that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 ROCK RIVER VALLEY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY
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
93%
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 ROCK RIVER VALLEY: 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 ROCK RIVER VALLEY?
- UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY (Illinois) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,965,406 to it, the largest being Community Foundation of Northern IL ($768,175). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $4,965,406 in grants to UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY?
- Community Foundation of Northern IL is the largest funder on record, with $768,175 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY 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 41 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