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Foundation DossiersMostly funded, not a grantmaker — see who funds it →
Plinth

· Public charity

A Better Chicago

A Better Chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

$3.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
25
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2024.

Education$9.4MCommunity Improvement$5.8MYouth Development$2.6MHuman Services$2.5MHousing & Shelter$1.0MHealth$955kPhilanthropy$510kArts & Culture$375kOther$0
02FY2024 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 25 grants below total $3,500,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $3,840,067 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $340,067 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k18 grants · $2.4M
  • $250k+4 grants · $1.1M
$125,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Juvenile Protective Association$300,000
Bottom Line$300,000
CHICAGO SCHOLARS$250,000
ONE MILLION DEGREES$250,000
Vocel Viewing Our Children as Emerging Leaders$225,000
National Louis University$225,000
COLLEGE POSSIBLE$200,000
Braven Inc$200,000
Intrinsic Schools$175,000
Chicago HOPES for Kids$150,000
Alternatives$150,000
Springboard Collaborative$125,000
iMentor$125,000
Rush University Medical Center$100,000
Lion's Pride Mentoring$100,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–24, $2.9M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Springboard Collaborative: $125k → 22%Juvenile Protective Association: $400k → 14%Juvenile Protective Association: $300k → 14%Juvenile Protective Association: $300k → 14%Juvenile Protective Association: $275k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $50k → 14%The Bloc: $113k → 14%The Bloc: $100k → 14%Austin Childcare Provider's Network: $100k → 14%Austin Childcare Provider's Network: $100k → 14%The Bloc: $100k → 14%Austin Childcare Provider's Network: $100k → 14%Austin Childcare Provider's Network: $75k → 14%The Bloc: $75k → 14%The Bloc: $73k → 14%Austin Childcare Provider's Network: $50k → 14%New Moms Inc: $25k → 14%Family Focus Inc: $25k → 14%LEAP Innovations: $250k → 14%LEAP Innovations: $50k → 14%LEAP Innovations: $50k → 14%Children Home & Aid Society of Illinois: $25k → 14%Cradles to Crayons Chicago: $75k → 14%Share Our Spare: $25k → 14%Northwest Side Housing Center: $25k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$21M · 29 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +51% since the first grant, against +28% for the ones you funded once.

29 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
33

Total granted

$21M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+28%

Still filing today

97%
91%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $200k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementHealthPhilanthropyOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TB
    THE BOTTOM LINE INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.6M · revenue +60%
  • KC
    KIPP CHICAGO SCHOOLS
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.4M · revenue +64%
  • JP
    JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +100%

Funded once

  • IH
    INSTITUTO HEALTH SCIENCES CAREER ACADEMY
    one grant, 2020 · $315k
  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    one grant, 2020 · $157k · revenue +21%
  • CI
    COMP-U-DOPT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $125k · revenue +286%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
2
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
3
Chicago Collegiate Inc

To equip all students in grades six through twelve with the academic skills, intellectual habits and character traits to succeed in the college of their choice, strenghten their communities and change the world.

Education
4
Chicago Education Partnership

To create a school that dramatically transforms the lives of k-8 students and prepares them for success in college and in life through: the delivery of a rigorous and personalized academic program, a focus on holistic education, and the…

Education
5
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
6
Tutoring Chicago

Tutoring chicago delivers the power of education through one-to-one tutoring.

Arts & Culture
7
High Jump

High jump is a tuition free, two-year enrichment program for talented and motivated middle school students with limited family income. the students attend classes for a five week session during the summers before 7th and 8th grade; as well…

Education
8
Urban Prep Academies

To provide a comprehensive, high quality, college preparatory education that results in graduates succeeding in college. The operation of a network of public Charter College Prep High Schools.

Education
9
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
10
Link Unlimited Scholars

To connect Black students with resources and opportunities that strengthen the necessary skills to succeed as they advance to, through, and beyond college.

Education
11
Christopher House

Christopher house is a family of schools that helps children and families succeed in school, the workplace, and life. through our unique and innovative approach, we are effectively closing the opportunity gap through a continuum of…

Human Services
12
Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers

Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers, through its Midtown Center for boys and Metro Achievement Center for girls, helps close the achievement gap for Chicago's urban youth ages eight through eighteen.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Moms Inc and the most unlike its peers is Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 23 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%2%<5yr14%8%5–10yr18%34%10–20yr17%29%20–35yr15%14%35–55yr16%13%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%8%5–10yr18%29%10–20yr17%39%20–35yr15%5%35–55yr16%19%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%2/65
the rest of the field
16%
4,999/31,445

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

63 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 63 of the 65 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
61/63
Grantees still filing
50/63
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

KIPP CHICAGO SCHOOLS — $1,435,000 · EducationKIPP CHICAGO SCHOOLSTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION — $1,275,000 · EducationTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATIONONE MILLION DEGREES — $1,207,500 · EducationONE MILLION DEGREESNational Louis University — $1,170,000 · EducationNational Louis UniversityCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $1,075,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INCNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS — $880,000 · EducationNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLSChicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for — $845,000 · EducationChicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential forINTRINSIC SCHOOLS — $795,000 · EducationINTRINSIC SCHOOLSBARR CENTER — $665,000 · EducationBARR CENTERLION PRIDE MENTORING INC — $540,000 · EducationLEADING EDUCATORS INC — $425,000 · Education+9 more — $650,000 · Education+9 moreBRAVEN INC — $1,118,500 · Youth DevelopmentBRAVEN INCVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders — $900,000 · Youth DevelopmentVocel Viewing …IMENTOR INC — $725,000 · Youth DevelopmentIMENTOR INC+7 more — $300,000 · Youth Development+7 moreJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION — $1,275,000 · Human ServicesJUVENILE PROT…THE BLOC — $460,000 · Human ServicesTHE BLOCAustin Childcare Providers Network — $425,000 · Human ServicesAustin Childc…LEAP Innovations — $350,000 · Human ServicesLEAP Innovati…SPRINGBOARD COLLABORATIVE — $125,000 · Human Services+7 more — $250,000 · Human Services+7 moreRoosevelt University — $1,400,000 · OtherRoosevelt Uni…INSTITUTO HEALTH SCIENCES CAREER ACADEMY — $315,000 · OtherINSTITUTO HEA…FIREHOUSE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER OF CHICAGO — $375,000 · OtherFIREHOUSE COM…LOST BOYZINC — $175,000 · OtherLOST BOYZINCWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $156,982 · OtherWORLD CENTRAL…+10 more — $370,000 · Other+10 moreTHE BOTTOM LINE INC — $1,550,000 · Community ImprovementTHE BOTTO…MAAFA Redemption Project — $425,000 · Community ImprovementMAAFA Red…+2 more — $75,000 · Community ImprovementALTERNATIVES INC — $630,000 · HealthRush University Medical Center — $325,000 · HealthPitch In — $510,000 · PhilanthropyROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION — $200,000 · Philanthropy
Education$10,962,500Youth Development$3,043,500Human Services$2,885,000Other$2,791,982Community Improvement$2,050,000Health$955,000Philanthropy$710,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE BOTTOM LINE INC — $1,550,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetKIPP CHICAGO SCHOOLS — $1,435,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetRoosevelt University — $1,400,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION — $1,275,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION — $1,275,000 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetONE MILLION DEGREES — $1,207,500 over 5y, 5.5% of budgetNational Louis University — $1,170,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetBRAVEN INC — $1,118,500 over 5y, 6.4% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC — $1,075,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders — $900,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS — $880,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetChicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for — $845,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetINTRINSIC SCHOOLS — $795,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetIMENTOR INC — $725,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetBARR CENTER — $665,000 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetALTERNATIVES INC — $630,000 over 4y, 5.0% of budgetLION PRIDE MENTORING INC — $540,000 over 4y, 70% of budgetPitch In — $510,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetTHE BLOC — $460,000 over 5y, 47% of budgetAustin Childcare Providers Network — $425,000 over 5y, 31% of budgetMAAFA Redemption Project — $425,000 over 5y, 33% of budgetLEADING EDUCATORS INC — $425,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetFIREHOUSE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER OF CHICAGO — $375,000 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetLEAP Innovations — $350,000 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetRush University Medical Center — $325,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION — $200,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLOST BOYZINC — $175,000 over 3y, 6.4% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC — $156,982 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetA HOUSE IN AUSTIN — $150,000 over 2y, 32% of budgetCOMP-U-DOPT INC — $125,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetSPRINGBOARD COLLABORATIVE — $125,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAustin Coming Together — $100,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetDREAM ON EDUCATION — $100,000 over 2y, 50% of budgetSAGA INNOVATIONS INC — $75,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC — $75,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC — $75,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetI AM ABLE CENTER FOR FAMILY DEVELOPMENT — $70,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY PARK IN THE CITY OF DETROIT — $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO — $50,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetCITY YEAR INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRole Model Movement Inc (NFP) — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEMBARC INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNew Life Centers of Chicagoland — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHWEST SIDE HOUSING CENTER — $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNEW MOMS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTeach for America Inc — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHorizons for Youth — $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Robert R McCormick Fo…The Chicago Community…Arie and Ida Crown Me…Polk Bros Foundation …Circle of Service Fou…United Way of Metropo…Vivo FoundationCme Group FoundationFinnegan Family Found…John D and Catherine …Imc Chicago Charitabl…Lloyd a Fry Foundation
Robert R McCormick FoundationIL60× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Circle of Service Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Vivo Foundation · Cme Group Foundation · Finnegan Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization A Better Chicago funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Saga Innovations Inc — 28% of income from government
  • City Year Inc — 11% of income from government
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc — 2% of income from government
  • The Bottom Line Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
22report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
typical government reliance, FY20–25

Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 65 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home