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THE JOHN CRERAR FOUNDATION

EIN 36-3155157 CHICAGO, IL

Revenue 2025
$21,375
Expenses 2025
$35,000

Program services were 100.0% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
Classification
1000
Street
5730 S ELLIS AVE

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2025

Mission

THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO THE JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY (THE "LIBRARY") IN THE FORM OF GRANTS MADE NOT LESS OFTEN THAN ANNUALLY. THE LIBRARY IS THE SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY SYSTEM. VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE ORGANIZATION'S INCOME IS USED IN FURTHERANCE OF THIS MISSION.

Activities or mission (Part I)

THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO THE JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY (THE "LIBRARY") IN THE FORM OF GRANTS MADE NOT LESS OFTEN THAN ANNUALLY. THE LIBRARY IS THE SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT OF THE LIBRARY SYSTEM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE ORGANIZATION'S INCOME IS USED IN FURTHERANCE OF THIS MISSION.

  • THIS GRANT TO THE LIBRARY PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR THE PRESERVATION AND CATALOGING OF THE HISTORIC CRERAR COLLECTION. THE BOOKS, ARTICLES AND RELATED ITEMS THAT COMPRISE THE HISTORIC CRERAR COLLECTION ARE THE DOCUMENTS THAT FORMED THE CENTERPIECE OF THE ORIGINAL JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY. THESE ITEMS, SOME OF WHICH ARE MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD, NOW ARE IN THE CARE AND CUSTODY OF THE CRERAR LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. THIS GRANT WILL SUPPORT THE ONGOING PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORIC CRERAR COLLECTION AND WILL MAKE IT MORE ACCESSIBLE THROUGH ENHANCED CATALOGING. THIS IS EXPECTED TO BE A MULTI-YEAR PROJECT.

    Expenses $20,000 · Grants $20,000

  • THIS GRANT TO THE LIBRARY PROVIDED SUPPORT FOR THE CAPTURING THE STARS MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT THAT INCLUDES FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS FROM THE LIBRARY, DIGITAL STUDIES, AND THE DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS. THIS PROJECT PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITIES IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS, DIGITAL HUMANITIES AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE. IN PARTICULAR, THIS GRANT PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS TO PRESENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BIENNIAL HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY WORKSHOP.

    Expenses $11,100 · Grants $11,100

  • THIS GRANT TO THE LIBRARY PROVIDED SUPPORT FOR THE ANNUAL JOHN CRERAR FOUNDATION SCIENCE WRITING PRIZE PROGRAM.

    Expenses $3,900 · Grants $3,900

As filed on the 2025 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Officers and directors · 2025

As listed in Part VII of the 2025 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • JANICE E RODGERS

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • PATRICK J BITTERMAN

    PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1.25

  • DAVID LOWENTHAL

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1

  • BOMIE LEONARD

    SECRETARY & TREASURER DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    1.5

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2025
    Revenue
    $21,375
    Expenses
    $35,000
    Contributions
    $0
    Grants paid
    $35,000
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $1,845
    Expenses
    $36,307
    Contributions
    $0
    Grants paid
    $36,000
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $1,617
    Expenses
    $36,220
    Contributions
    $0
    Grants paid
    $36,000

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $488,191
    Expenses
    $31,016
    Assets (EOY)
    $1,031,415

  • 2020 · 990

    Revenue
    $29,395
    Expenses
    $31,030
    Assets (EOY)
    $935,247

  • 2019 · 990

    Revenue
    $31,677
    Expenses
    $30,589
    Assets (EOY)
    $969,658

  • 2018 · 990

    Revenue
    $29,627
    Expenses
    $29,505
    Assets (EOY)
    $806,464

  • 2017 · 990

    Revenue
    $29,048
    Expenses
    $27,020
    Assets (EOY)
    $845,064

  • 2016 · 990

    Revenue
    $28,477
    Expenses
    $25,550
    Assets (EOY)
    $777,938

  • 2015 · 990

    Revenue
    $26,832
    Expenses
    $25,735
    Assets (EOY)
    $709,574

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

No itemized grant names this organization as a recipient. Only grants over $5,000 are itemized, and only by filers of the full Form 990.

Related organizations

From Schedule R Part II, where a filer lists the tax-exempt organizations it is related to by control. It does not record shared board members or money.

Declared on its 2025 return

Declared as related by

The most recent declarers. The API serves every row.

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 26 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2025, the newest we have parsed for this organization.