Top Illinois Social Impact Startups (74)

Over the last 15 years, we’ve grown from a startup to a market-leading organization with over 150 team members, and we’ve created an award-winning culture that makes this company an amazing place to work. We've been ranked on multiple best places to work lists including the 2026 BuiltIn Chicago rankings.

Pangea is a digital money transfer platform that makes sending money abroad simple, reliable, and cost-effective. Founded in 2012 and based in Chicago, we’ve helped millions of people send money securely and efficiently, empowering financial freedom across borders. We serve a global customer base with a mobile-first platform that offers low fees, competitive exchange rates, and fast*, secure delivery. Our work...

Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a leading international theater company dedicated to the works of Shakespeare, producing a year-round season of plays, musicals, and world premieres, alongside extensive education and community engagement programs. It is a Regional Tony Award recipient.

Amp Americas owns and operates one of the largest carbon negative fuels producing portfolios in the U.S. Amp makes ultra-low carbon intensity renewable natural gas (RNG) from dairy waste at 7 facilities in 3 states processing manure from over 100,000 cows. Amp operates three business units: Amp Americas Development, Amp Americas Services, and Amp Americas RNG Marketing. Amp’s dairy RNG...

The Environmental Law & Policy Center is the Midwest's leading environmental legal advocacy organization that combines public interest litigation with policy advocacy to protect natural resources, advance climate solutions, and promote environmental justice.

mRelief provides an easy-to-use platform through web and text messaging that enables Americans to find out if they qualify and enroll in the SNAP (food stamps) program. Our mission is to transform access to social services for the inherent dignity of all people. We have served over 1,000,000 families.

Founded in 2009, TeamSnap is the #1 platform for organizing youth, recreational, and competitive sports activities. Over 25 million users use TeamSnap’s web and smartphone apps to sign up, schedule, communicate and coordinate everything for the team, the club, and the season. TeamSnap makes organizing as simple as click, tap, and go.

The Cove School provides a highly individualized education and life strategies for children with complex learning disabilities.

WINGS Program, Inc. is Chicagoland's largest anti-domestic violence agency, providing housing, integrated services, education, and advocacy to end domestic violence for men, women, and children.

Double Good is a company built on creating joy and helping others. By reimagining product-based virtual fundraising, we help expand organizations' missions by giving back 50% of every dollar sold. We make ultra-premium popcorn sold through our simple-to-use software. We've helped raise over $200 million to support organizations nationwide that tilt the playing field for all kids. Double Good is not...

Vidmob is the creative data company. Its AI-based software improves creative and media performance by helping brands and agencies derive their own custom creative best practices, and ensure that those learnings are applied across all flighted media. Vidmob’s approach to using creative data drives brand consistency, reduces creative and media waste, and increases overall business performance across the funnel. As...

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers is a patient-focused health care organization that provides, protects, and supports sexual and reproductive health services, access, and rights. It serves as a leading provider, educator, and protector of reproductive health care in the St. Louis region, Missouri Ozarks, and beyond, offering high-quality, convenient health care for all genders with or without insurance.

Not every candidate is a top performer—and neither is every hiring assessment provider. Wonderlic’s mission is to help HR professionals identify top applicants and predict on-the-job performance by providing them with the most trusted, scientifically validated assessments on the market. Since the company was founded in 1937, more than 200 million Wonderlic assessments have been administered to job candidates. Our...

STEAMe's digital and data platform powers workforce development pathways to employment, connects system partners, simplifies workflows, and helps get the right person, to the right training, and the right job, so people and communities can flourish.

The GreenLight Fund works at the intersection of community need and social innovation. GreenLight helps open opportunities for children, youth and families experiencing poverty by engaging deeply with the community and running a consistent annual process to: elevate priority issues not yet being addressed; invest in innovative, proven programs that have a significant, measurable social impact; and galvanize local support...

Flowers for Dreams is the artisan flower service. Made to order and crafted locally, all bouquets start at just $35 with free hand delivery in Chicago & to Milwaukee. Every purchase benefits an amazing local charity. Named one of Business Insider's 20 Most Inspiring Companies in America.

Motion is an independent creative agency that builds the brands of tomorrow by uncovering the cultural truths of today. With creative, content, public relations and branding at our core, Motion is filled wall-to-wall with curious thinkers, problem solvers and strategic storytellers, partnering and building relationships with brands to create what makes them truly move. For more information, visit www.agencyinmotion.com.

STIGMA is a mental health community that uses asynchronous messaging to connect you with people who share your lived experience. It is NOT a public social media site. There are no public profiles, no comment threads, no influencers... in other words, no vanity. This is a safe space to practice talking about your mental health.

LEAP Innovations' mission is to transform learning into a holistic, tailored experience—designed to prepare, empower and inspire all learners to ignite their unlimited potential. Think of us as the R&D hub for education innovation, bringing the best learning science and technology here to pilot, research and scale.

PiN is a renewable energy company disguised as an online gamification platform via website and mobile apps. PiN is a social enterprise that is a hybrid between online and mobile games and penny auctions. Users can win prizes through skills games, initially trivia games, with renewable energy advocacy and education built in before each game.