Illinois · Nonprofit
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC (Illinois) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,159,488 to it, the largest being THE SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($570,000). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 90
- Grants received
- $4.2M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Working in the Schools Inc does
Mission
Wits believes that literacy is the foundation on which all other learning develops. Our mission is to empower chicago elementary students to discover themselves through reading while developing foundational literacy skills. We do this by creating community through literacy-based mentorship, enabling teachers to build diverse classroom libraries, and promoting book ownership at home.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Workplace mentoring: workplace mentoring is an after-school program that provides for third through sixth grade students to be transported by bus to corporate offices where they are matched with employees for one-on-one, 60 minute mentoring sessions.
$382,562 spent35% of program spendingMid-day mentoring: mid-day mentoring is a school day literacy and mentoring program that pairs elementary school students and business volunteers for one-on-one, 45 minute reading sessions. Mid-day mentoring promotes foundational literacy skills and love of reading through reading aloud, sharing favorite stories, and talking about books.
$244,044 spent22% of program spendingRochelle lee teacher award: the rochelle lee teacher award (rlta) is named in honor of rochelle lee, chicago public schools (cps) educator and librarian who inspired generations of students to be impassioned readers. Rochelle lee teacher awardees are cps teachers that embody the same drive as rochelle lee to develop their students into people who will foster a life-long relationship to learning and reading. The competitive essay-based application process draws cps teacher applicants across subject matters in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth. Teachers apply either as a potential individual awardee or part of a study group. Teachers may be selected to participate in rlta for a maximum of four years. The first two years can be as an individual participant; the last two must be as a member of a study group. Teachers attend self-selected literacy workshops during wits' summer institute and receive accredited continuing professional development hours for each completed workshop. Once teachers complete the required number of workshop hours, they are awarded book grants to purchase new books for their classroom libraries.
$258,495 spent23% of program spendingWits kindergarten: the wits kindergarten ("witsk") program is a one-on-one reading program that takes place at chicago public elementary schools ("cps"). Kindergarten students read with a consistent volunteer each week, which allows volunteers and children to establish a consistent reading rapport and build book print awareness, as well as early literacy skills, over the course of the school year.
$216,006 spent20% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,101,107.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.4M to $1.7M (+21%).
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 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
110% of WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Tena Latona
Ex-officio CEO
Board chair
Jennifer Alter Warden
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $250k → $560k.
14 of 90 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 90 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
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
44% 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 WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 43% · 2019 29% · 2020 20% · 2021 20% · 2022 18% · 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
41% of WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
72% of WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS 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
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS 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 WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC?
- WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC (Illinois) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,159,488 to it, the largest being THE SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION ($570,000). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC have?
- IRS filings report 90 organizations giving $4,159,488 in grants to WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC, 53 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC?
- THE SIMON FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $570,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS 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.
Play a game about who funds Working in the Schools →
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 90 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