How much does A Better Chicago give?

A Better Chicago reported 24 itemized grants totaling $4,095,000, out of $4,527,254 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 25 and 51 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.

What does A Better Chicago fund?

By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (40%), Community Improvement (25%), Youth Development (11%).

Who are A Better Chicago's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: The Chicago Scholars Foundation ($2.0M), The Bottom Line Inc ($1.9M), Juvenile Protective Association ($1.6M).

Does A Better Chicago fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 8% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as A Better Chicago?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Robert R McCormick Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Arie and Ida Crown Memorial.

Where is A Better Chicago based?

A Better Chicago is based in IL.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

Illinois · 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.

$4.5M
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 24
Itemized grants FY2025: 25
Organizations funded FY2024: 8%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2025: $4.1M; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $150,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $750,000
Organizations funded a year: 25 to 51; FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 4
Total assets, FY2025: $17M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 8% of the organizations A Better Chicago funded were first-time grantees, receiving 6% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

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

RenewedFirst-time

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

EducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentHealthRecreation & SportsOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	24	$4.1M	4%
FY2024	25	$3.5M	8%
FY2023	26	$3.8M	0%
FY2022	29	$4.9M	14%
FY2021	26	$5.2M	27%
FY2020	51	$5.7M	n/a

100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

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

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
The Chicago Scholars Foundation	$2,025,000	6	15%
The Bottom Line Inc	$1,850,000	6	3%
Juvenile Protective Association	$1,575,000	5	12%
One Million Degrees	$1,457,500	6	6%
Roosevelt University	$1,450,000	5	0%
Kipp Chicago Schools	$1,445,000	6	2%
National Louis University	$1,395,000	6	0%
College Possible Inc	$1,325,000	6	1%
Braven Inc	$1,318,500	6	6%
Vocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders	$1,125,000	6	17%

Show all 65 grantees

All grantees of A Better Chicago by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
The Chicago Scholars Foundation	$2,025,000	6	15%
The Bottom Line Inc	$1,850,000	6	3%
Juvenile Protective Association	$1,575,000	5	12%
One Million Degrees	$1,457,500	6	6%
Roosevelt University	$1,450,000	5	0%
Kipp Chicago Schools	$1,445,000	6	2%
National Louis University	$1,395,000	6	0%
College Possible Inc	$1,325,000	6	1%
Braven Inc	$1,318,500	6	6%
Vocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders	$1,125,000	6	17%
Chicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for	$995,000	5	20%
Intrinsic Schools	$970,000	6	1%
Noble Network of Charter Schools	$890,000	6	0%
Imentor Inc	$800,000	6	1%
Alternatives Inc	$780,000	5	5%
Barr Center	$665,000	4	5%
The Bloc	$560,000	6	47%
Lion Pride Mentoring Inc	$540,000	4	70%
MAAFA Redemption Project	$525,000	6	33%
Pitch In	$510,000	4	16%
Austin Childcare Providers Network	$475,000	6	31%
Rush University Medical Center	$425,000	5	0%
Leading Educators Inc	$425,000	3	3%
Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago	$375,000	5	5%
LEAP Innovations	$350,000	3	7%
Saga Innovations Inc	$325,000	2	1%
Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy	$315,000	1	n/a
Springboard Collaborative	$250,000	2	0%
A House in Austin	$200,000	3	32%
Lost Boyzinc	$175,000	3	6%
World Central Kitchen Inc	$156,982	1	0%
Project OneTen	$150,000	2	n/a
Community Education Network	$125,000	1	1%
Comp-U-Dopt Inc	$125,000	1	2%
Austin Coming Together	$100,000	1	7%
Dream on Education	$100,000	2	50%
After School Matters Inc	$75,000	1	0%
Cradles to Crayons Inc	$75,000	1	0%
I Am Able Center for Family Development	$70,000	2	2%
UpKey Foundation	$50,000	1	n/a
Metropolitan Family Services	$50,000	1	0%
Wayne State University Research and Technology Park in the City of Detroit	$50,000	1	1%
Communities in Schools of Chicago	$50,000	1	1%
North Chicago Community Partners	$50,000	1	n/a
Kivvit LLC	$50,000	1	n/a
Horizons for Youth	$25,000	1	1%
Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill	$25,000	1	0%
Family Focus Legacy	$25,000	1	0%
Skills for Chicago	$25,000	1	0%
New Life Centers of Chicagoland	$25,000	1	0%
El Hogar del Nino	$25,000	1	0%
New Moms Inc	$25,000	1	0%
Start Early	$25,000	1	n/a
Bernie's Book Bank	$25,000	1	1%
Primo Center for Women & Children	$25,000	1	0%
Teach for America Inc	$25,000	1	0%
Embarc Inc	$25,000	1	1%
Lawrence Hall	$25,000	1	0%
Role Model Movement Inc (NFP)	$25,000	1	0%
Sunshine Gospel Ministries	$25,000	1	1%
Northwest Side Housing Center	$25,000	1	1%
Newroot Learning Institute F/K/A Umoja Student Development Corp	$25,000	1	1%
Share our Spare	$25,000	1	1%
City Year Inc	$25,000	1	0%
Enlace Chicago	$25,000	1	0%

A Better Chicago supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 6 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 59 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 59.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

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

How this is measured

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

Compare A Better Chicago with peer funders

About A Better Chicago

How much does A Better Chicago give?: A Better Chicago reported 24 itemized grants totaling $4,095,000, out of $4,527,254 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 25 and 51 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does A Better Chicago fund?: By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (40%), Community Improvement (25%), Youth Development (11%).
Who are A Better Chicago's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: The Chicago Scholars Foundation ($2.0M), The Bottom Line Inc ($1.9M), Juvenile Protective Association ($1.6M).
Does A Better Chicago fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 8% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as A Better Chicago?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Robert R McCormick Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Arie and Ida Crown Memorial.
Where is A Better Chicago based?: A Better Chicago is based in IL.