Openlands
Chicago, IL · EIN 36-2649603. Reported 87 grants totalling $3,341,256 to 82 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
- How spread out its giving is. 82 distinct organizations, with 73% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 5% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $3,000 and the largest $2,455,534. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,094,796 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lale County Forest Preserve | Libertyville, IL | $2,455,534 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Wetlands Initiative | Chicago, IL | $66,474 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Sierra Club | Oakland, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Farm Foundation | Libertyville, IL | $29,070 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Forest Preserves of Winnebago County | Rockford, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Fox Valley Park District | Aurora, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Healthy Schools Campaign | Chicago, IL | $19,908 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Kleo Inc | Hollywood, IL | $14,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Academy for Global Citizenship Charter School | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bee Haven | Mokena, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Citizens for Conservation Inc | Barrington, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| City of Belvidere | Belvidere, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| City of Berwyn | Berwyn, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| City of Freeport | Freeport, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| City of Prospect Heights | Prospect Heights, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| City of Warrenville | Warrenville, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Community College District 502 - College of Dupage | Glen Ellyn, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Crystal Lake Park District | Crystal Lake, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dekalb County Forest Preserve District | Sycamore, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Downers Grove Park District | Downers Grove, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dundee Township | East Dundee, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Forest Preserve District of Kane County | Geneva, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Forest Preserve Foundation Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of the Forest Preserves | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Gardeneers | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Gaylord Building Historic Site | Lockport, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Gichiagamiin Indigenous Nations Museum Inc | Evanston, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| History Center of Lake Forest Lake Bluff | Lake Forest, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Kane County Farm Bureau | Saint Charles, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kane Forest Preserve Foundation | Geneva, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lake Bluff Open Lands Association | Lake Bluff, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lake Forest Open Lands Association | Mettawa, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Libertyville Township | Libertyville, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Long Grove Business and Communitypartners | Long Grove, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Mchenry County Division of Transportation (mcdot) | Woodstock, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Neighborspace | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Niles Township Government | Skokie, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pleasant Dale Park District | Burr Ridge, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Preservation Foundation of the Lakecounty Forest Preserves | Libertyville, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Riverdale Park District | Riverdale, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Star Farm Chicago | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Village of Prairie Grove | Prairie Grove, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Wilder World Trust Nfp | Lemont, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Theosophical Society in America | Wheaton, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| University of St Francis | Joliet, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Village of Algonquin | Algonquin, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of Bannockburn | Bannockburn, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Berkeley | Berkeley, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Bolingbrook | Bolingbrook, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Village of Davis Junction | Davis Junction, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of Downers Grove | Downers Grove, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Elwood | Elwood, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Franklin Park | Franklin Park, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Village of Lake Barrington | Lake Barrington, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Lake Bluff | Lake Bluff, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Montgomery | Montgomery, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Oswego | Oswego, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Village of Plainfield | Plainfield, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Port Barrington | Port Barrington, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Village of Schaumburg | Schaumburg, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of South Holland | South Holland, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Village of University Park | University Park, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Waukegan Park District | Waukegan, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Young Mens Educational Network | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Dixon Park District | Dixon, IL | $9,316 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| York Center Park District | Lombard, IL | $9,069 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Village of Waterman | Waterman, IL | $9,034 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Outerbelt Alliance Nfp | Flossmoor, IL | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Boone County Conservation District | Belvidere, IL | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Palatine Township Road District | Palatine, IL | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chicago Parks Foundation | Chicago, IL | $7,851 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | Chicago, IL | $7,847 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of Homer Glen | Homer Glen, IL | $7,460 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| City of Countryside | Countryside, IL | $7,160 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chicago Park District | Chicago, IL | $6,998 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of Lincolnshire | Lincolnshire, IL | $6,182 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Buffalo Grove Park District | Buffalo Grove, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Prospect Heights Park District | Prospect Heights, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| St Charles Park District | St Charles, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Community Highschool District 128 | Vernon Hills, IL | $5,253 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bourbonnais Township Park District | Bourbonnais, IL | $3,600 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Grant Park | Grant Park, IL | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
5 of 82 (6%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Lale County Forest Preserve
FURTHERENCE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS MISSION TO PRESERVE LANDS FOR PUBLIC USE - The Wetlands Initiative
SUBGRANT TO THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE FOR WETLAND RESTORATION AT MIDEWIN NATIONAL TALLGRASS PRAIRIE - Sierra Club
COMPREHENSIVE LAND USE & TRANSPORTATION PLANNING/AGRICULTURAL BUFFER - MIDEWIN - Farm Foundation
DIALOGS ON THE FUTURE OF FOOD AND FARMING - Healthy Schools Campaign
SPACE TO GROW PARTNERSHIP - City of Berwyn
COMED GREEN REGION 2023 GRANT - OPEN SPACE PROJECTS
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 22 of 82 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 25 | $246,076 | $10,000 |
| 2021 | 19 | $197,103 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | 22 | $2,651,223 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 21 | $246,854 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
99% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Illinois.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Openlands's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 21 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 25 E Washington St 1650, Chicago, IL, 60602.
EIN 36-2649603 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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