Fifth Star Funds Inc., EIN 88-1382953, is a 501(c)(3) public charity in Chicago that invests directly in companies. Our filings, board and spending are below.
Our statement of activity and statement of financial position go to funders in diligence and to anyone processing a grant. Write to contributions (at) fifthstarfunds.org and we'll send them.
Our checks are investments. They're carried at cost on our balance sheet, not recorded as program expenses, and they're only written up or down when a company raises a priced round, exits or closes.
So the 990 shows a small expense line, which is the cost of running the fund, against much larger net assets, which are mostly the portfolio. The program is the $900,000 we've invested in 36 companies since 2021, and you'll find it in the assets rather than the expenses. Acumen carries its portfolio the same way and explains it the same way.
Our Candid profile is built from these same filings. Fifth Star Funds on Candid
The board governs the fund. Investment decisions are made by our investment committee, which includes members of the board.
Co-founded Clinify Health and led it as CEO through its exit.
Has founded three companies, Fifth Star among them. Chief Product Officer at ClearCOGS.
CEO of 1440. Named Outstanding Tech CEO at 1871's 2026 Momentum Awards.
Runs day-to-day operations, the evaluation cycles, the portfolio and the filings.
Contributions since 2021 total more than $1.7 million, and $900,000 of it has gone into founders' companies as $25,000 checks. Over the fund's life so far, the split between founders and running the fund is closer to even, because the early years carried the fixed cost of building the fund on a small base. Our 2026 and proposed 2027 budgets put $17 of every $25 into the first check and $3 into the operator support that comes with it, and that's the standard we run to now. None of this is a ratio you can read off a 990. We sort every dollar spent since June 2021 into two piles: dollars that went to founders, as a $25,000 check or as LongJump's support, and dollars that ran the fund.
Contributions pay for our operations, as they do at the peer funds we've looked at, and we expect that to stay true for years. We don't plan around investment returns. When a company exits, the proceeds go back out as first checks, not into salaries.
The day-to-day operations of the fund and the people who do them, the quarterly evaluation cycles, the legal work on every SAFE, the filings and the accounting, and this website. The operator support LongJump delivers to our founders is counted on the founders' side, not here.
Figures from our investment tracker, October 2026. Our companies are selected, so these numbers describe our portfolio, not the effect of the check on its own. By year, with sources.
Kyle Backer, operations director, answers due-diligence questions and can send prior-year filings, board minutes on request, and our intake profile in your portal's format. Write to contributions (at) fifthstarfunds.org or use the contact page.
Updates on the founders we back and the work behind the checks.
