Illinois · Nonprofit
WE RAISE FOUNDATION
WE RAISE FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,449,923 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($398,230). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $12M
What We Raise Foundation does
Mission
Called by christ to serve others, We Raise Foundation partners with christian organizations to support and develop sustainable programs that help people thrive.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
11 grants awarded to exempt organizations that work at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality in the united states and the direct expenses of internally funded and directed projects. The grant programs supported by We Raise Foundation served a total of 22,822 unique individuals between july 2024 and june 2025. The grant programs supported by We Raise Foundation during the past year also engaged a total of 745 unique volunteers in service.
$551,158 spentof which $541,765 as grants47% of program spendingExpenses for the education, training and support of professionals and other leaders in the christian community that are involved in designing or operating projects. We Raise Foundation resourced grant partners to attend several events throughout the year including educational convenings for grantees and workshops for leaders who are leading new programs that work at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality.
$404,805 spent34% of program spendingExpenses incurred for the review, evaluation, selection and awarding of project grants, and support for internally funded and directed projects. We Raise Foundation employed one full time staff member and invested in the technology and supplies needed to vet 29 grant proposals received during the year, awarded 11 new grants, and evaluated, managed, and provided assistance and consulting to active grantees.
$217,668 spent19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,173,631.
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 2020 to 2021, from $11M to $13M (+20%).
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: 2020 9% · 2021 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
66% of WE RAISE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Mark Duesenberg
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $66k → $187k.
6 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 WE RAISE FOUNDATION’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
WE RAISE FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
64% 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 WE RAISE FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 27% · 2019 29% · 2020 29% · 2021 33% · 2022 24% · 2023 46% — 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
52% of WE RAISE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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
58% of WE RAISE FOUNDATION'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 $608k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 14 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $842k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
WE RAISE FOUNDATION's revenue fell 59% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,325 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WE RAISE FOUNDATION
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
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 17 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WE RAISE FOUNDATION: 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 WE RAISE FOUNDATION?
- WE RAISE FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,449,923 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($398,230). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WE RAISE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $1,449,923 in grants to WE RAISE FOUNDATION, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WE RAISE FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $398,230 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WE RAISE FOUNDATION 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 30 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