Ladder Up

Ladder Up, a Chicago-based nonprofit recipient of federal grants, delivers tax representation, tax preparation, and financial assistance services to low-income and English-as-a-second-language taxpayers as a prime grant recipient under Internal Revenue Service programs, with secondary engagement as a sub-recipient of state and federal pass-through funds.

Ladder Up operates as a tax-exempt nonprofit corporate entity under 501(c) status, headquartered at the Apparel Center in Chicago, Illinois. The organization has no federal contracts or contract vehicles; its federal engagement is exclusively through grant programs administered by the Treasury Department's Internal Revenue Service and sub-award agreements flowing from state agencies. The organization does not pursue competitive federal contracting and competes only within the grant-recipient space.

The organization's primary federal footprint sits with two IRS grant programs. Under the Low Income Taxpayer Clinics program (CFDA 21.008), Ladder Up holds multiple prime grant awards spanning 2023 through 2028. The most recent LITC award, effective January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2028, carries $200,000 and authorizes Ladder Up to provide direct tax representation before the IRS and other tribunals in federal tax controversies, taxpayer consultations on tax issues, educational activities regarding taxpayer rights and responsibilities, and advocacy initiatives to improve IRS administrative processes. An earlier LITC award ($390,000) ran from January 2023 through December 2025. Under the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Matching Grant program (CFDA 21.009), Ladder Up operates VITA sites across Illinois providing free tax return preparation and electronic filing to low-to-moderate-income taxpayers, with a focus on earned-income tax credit eligibility. A $422,981 VITA award effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026, requires Ladder Up to provide matching funds equal to the federal obligation and targets vulnerable populations including persons with disabilities, limited English speakers, Native Americans, rural residents, military members and their families, and elderly taxpayers.

Customer concentration is narrowly distributed across federal and state grantors. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families accounts for 27 sub-awards under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (flowing through the Illinois Department of Human Services as the prime state grantee). The Department of the Treasury's Internal Revenue Service anchors 19 prime grant awards. Recent sub-award activity under TANF spans from July 2023 through December 2025, indicating consistent engagement with state pass-through mechanisms for workforce and family assistance programming. One award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency ($153,000 potential value) appears in the portfolio but carries sparse detail in the source.

Award activity peaked in 2023 (20 awards) and has moderated to one to eight awards annually in subsequent years. Combined potential value across the fifty-three awards in the source totals $153,000, but combined dollars obligated across all awards ($21.6 million) significantly exceeds that figure—a pattern indicating that the source's potential-value field substantially underreflects actual obligation levels for grant work. One award reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure. Ladder Up operates as a prime recipient in 49% of awards and as a sub-recipient in 51%, with the sub-award concentration driven by TANF flow-through arrangements with the Illinois Department of Human Services and IRS pass-through mechanisms for VITA programming.