Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Oct 1949.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
94 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
36 people listed on the 990; $374K paid to officers and key staff.
Robert Glaves’s $155K as Executive Director is at the 18th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3683 $10–100M education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 5 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Glaves | $155,462 | $144,187 | $139,603 | $137,638 | $137,638 |
| Dina R Merrell | — | — | — | — | $139,608 |
| Roya Samarghandi | $110,210 | — | — | — | — |
| Melanie Macbride | $108,350 | $101,020 | $101,000 | — | — |
| Jessica Bednarz | — | — | $101,171 | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Mobilizes lawyers to help people get fair legal treatment.
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Made the court system more user-friendly and accessible for people in need, particularly those without lawyers. The CBF continued its role as a lead partner with the circuit court, cook county, legal aid, and others in the cook county legal aid for housing and debt program, which provides critical help for people facing evictions…
Provided significant grants and other key support to chicago's pro bono and legal aid organizations and related initiatives serving the chicago area. These grants enabled tens of thousands of chicagoans in need to get critical legal advice and assistance; strengthened chicago's pro bono and legal aid system; and supported a number of…
Invested in the attorneys dedicating their careers to legal aid. The CBF made it possible for 12 attorneys and law students to pursue careers in legal aid through the CBF'S anderson fellowship, the moses public interest scholarship, equal justice works fellowship program, and the CBF'S sponsorship of pili law student internships.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $1.5M | $5.0M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $887K | $2.0M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $452K | $417K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $3.5M | $10.1M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $978K | $4.6M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $2.5M | $5.6M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $9.5M | $9.5M | ||
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $251K | $251K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $182K | $110K | $36K | $36K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $916K | $555K | $182K | $179K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $25K | $15K | $5K | $5K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $200K | $121K | $40K | $39K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $83K | $50K | $16K | $16K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $1K | $1K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $41K | $41K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $1K | $1K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $729K | $705K | $24K | $291 |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $42K | $16K | $22K | $4K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $140K | $26K | $109K | $6K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $125K | $107K | $9K | $9K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $112K | $102K | $9K | $881 |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $35K | $23K | $6K | $6K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $12.4M | $11.6M | $501K | $301K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $15.4M | $12.4M | $3.0M | $5.6M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $11.1M | $10.1M | $943K | $2.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $9.9M | $10.2M | −$252K | $1.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $8.4M | $8.1M | $333K | $1.8M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $5.3M | $5.0M | $362K | $1.5M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $15,447,025 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 33 of 33 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $15,447,025 across 9 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $12,409,031 across 16 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $10,135,132 assets, 18 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $5,573,252 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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