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Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$1.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0174% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Religion$1.5MPublic Benefit$1.3MPhilanthropy$717kEducation$481kHuman Services$326kHealth$147kArts & Culture$65kCrime & Legal$42kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,273,695
Median grant
1
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DETAILS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION UPON REQUEST$1,273,695
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–23, $298k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SELFHELP HOME - JEWISH RETIREMENT COMMUNITY: $1k → 14%SELFHELP HOME - JEWISH RETIREMENT COMMUNITY: $540 → 14%MOSDOS NESIVAS SHALOM INC: $360 → 14%MOSDOS NESIVAS SHALOM INC: $180 → 14%AHAVAS TZEDAKOS: $180 → 11%OUR PLACE IN NEW YORK INC: $15k → 20%MISHKAN YITZCHOK: $36 → 11%YESHIVAS BEIS DOVID INC: $36 → 20%ATIME: $1k → 20%ATIME: $1k → 20%MATAN B'SETER BAMBI: $250 → 20%MATAN B'SETER BAMBI: $180 → 20%LIBENU: $5k → 14%LIBENU: $5k → 14%MATAN B'SETER BAMBI: $180 → 20%LIBENU: $4k → 14%CHICAGO CHESED FUND: $92k → 14%CHICAGO CHESED FUND: $87k → 14%CHICAGO CHESED FUND: $85k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
MD
GA
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

50%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 127 repeat orgs$2.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

127 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 127 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

127
297

Total granted

$2.5M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+13%

Still filing today

31%
20%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M 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
ReligionPhilanthropyEducationHuman ServicesInternationalHealthOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • JO
    Just One Chesed Inc
    3× · 2021–2023 · $310k · revenue +143%
  • CC
    CHICAGO CHESED FUND
    3× · 2021–2023 · $264k · revenue +12%
  • CM
    CHICAGO MEZUZAH AND MITZVAH CAMPAIGN
    3× · 2021–2023 · $145k · revenue +55%

Funded once

  • CC
    CHICAGO CHESED FUND
    one grant, 2020 · $159k
  • C
    CHABAD
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • MR
    MIDWEST REFUAH HEALTH CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue -26%
How this is measured

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

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Yeshiva Ohr Yisroel
Philanthropy
2
American Friends of Yeshiva Aish Hatorah
—
3
Tomchei Torah Inc

Religious Teaching

—
4
American Friends of Amshinover Yeshiva Jerusalem Inc

Support of religious schools in Israel

International
5
Keren Yaakov Ben Menachen Tzvi Foundation
Philanthropy
6
American Friends of Yeshivat Nachalat Yossef

The organization will provide financial assistance to educational institutions that promote the observance of the jewish religion, its laws and traditions, and sacred texts, including yeshivat nachalat yossef, located in jerusalem, israel.

Religion
7
Tal Hashamayim Foundation
Religion
8
Zichron Avrohom Yosef
Philanthropy
9
Kollel Nefesh Hachaim Inc
Education
10
American Friends of Hamesorah Talmud Torah Inc

Charity and education in u.s. and israel

—
11
American Friends of Keshet Yehuda Nfp

religious and educational program for post high school youth

Philanthropy
12
Zohar Hatorah Inc

Religious School

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mosdos Nesivas Shalom Inc; the most unlike its peers is Camp Extreme D/B/a Project Extreme. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

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

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 108 of the 425 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
97/108
Grantees still filing
71/108
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DETAILS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION UPON REQUEST: $1,273,695 · OtherDETAILS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION UPON REQUESTARIE CROWN HEBREW DAY SCHOOL: $325,000 · OtherARIE CROWN HEBREW DAY SCHOOLCONGREGATION OR TORAH: $177,729 · OtherCHICAGO CHESED FUND: $159,400 · OtherTHE ARK: $137,800 · Other+147 more: $1,549,414 · Other+147 moreJust One Chesed Inc: $309,760 · PhilanthropyJust One Ch…HEBRON FUND INC: $98,600 · PhilanthropyHEBRON FUND…JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $48,700 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNIT…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HOUSE OF HOPE INC: $46,000 · PhilanthropyAMERICAN FR…+4 more: $19,000 · PhilanthropyCHICAGO CHESED FUND: $263,790 · Human ServicesOUR PLACE IN NY INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesLIBENU: $14,400 · Human Services+5 more: $11,470 · Human ServicesCHICAGO MEZUZAH AND MITZVAH CAMPAIGN: $144,775 · ReligionILLINOIS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES: $38,000 · ReligionTHE HINDA INSTITUTE: $21,072 · ReligionAGUDATH ISRAEL OF ILLINOIS: $11,800 · ReligionAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HAMAAYAN FOUNDATION OF JEWISH CULTURE INSTITUTE INC: $10,400 · ReligionJET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC: $10,000 · Religion+11 more: $39,350 · ReligionMIDWEST REFUAH HEALTH CENTER: $100,000 · HealthHELPHOPELIVE INC: $20,000 · HealthHATZALAH CHICAGO: $12,600 · HealthPROJECT 613 NFP: $15,950 · EducationYESHIVA OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $12,600 · EducationKEHILLAH JEWISH EDUCATION FUND: $11,800 · EducationYESHIVAS KESSER YONAH: $2,000 · EducationYESHIVA ELEMENTARY INC: $1,800 · EducationAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KOLEL TIFERES YISROEL: $1,800 · Education+1 more: $1,000 · EducationCentral Fund of Israel: $35,000 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF YESHIVA DMIR INC: $5,900 · InternationalYeshivas Derech Hamelech INC: $1,980 · International+2 more: $1,540 · International
Other$3,623,038Philanthropy$522,060Human Services$304,660Religion$275,397Health$132,600Education$46,950International$44,420

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJust One Chesed Inc: $309,760 over 3y, 6.5% of budgetCHICAGO CHESED FUND: $263,790 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetCHICAGO MEZUZAH AND MITZVAH CAMPAIGN: $144,775 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetMIDWEST REFUAH HEALTH CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetHEBRON FUND INC: $98,600 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $48,700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNETZACH FOUNDATION: $46,000 over 3y, 87% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HOUSE OF HOPE INC: $46,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetILLINOIS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES: $38,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetCentral Fund of Israel: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAOT CHITIM OF GREATER CHICAGO INC: $24,400 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE HINDA INSTITUTE: $21,072 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetHELPHOPELIVE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCASA LAKE COUNTY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPROJECT 613 NFP: $15,950 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMeorot Trust: $15,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetOUR PLACE IN NY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLIBENU: $14,400 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHATZALAH CHICAGO: $12,600 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetYESHIVA OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $12,600 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetKEHILLAH JEWISH EDUCATION FUND: $11,800 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetAGUDATH ISRAEL OF ILLINOIS: $11,800 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HAMAAYAN FOUNDATION OF JEWISH CULTURE INSTITUTE INC: $10,400 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetBITTON FAMILY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetJET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetKESHET: $9,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKEREN HATZEDAKA INC: $6,780 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION: $6,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF YESHIVA DMIR INC: $5,900 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTorahAnytimeCom Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKEREN AVROHOM VSOROH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetNAVI JOURNEY CORP: $5,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetKEREN HASHVIIS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCAMP EXTREME D/B/A PROJECT EXTREME: $4,366 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetOhr Hatorah: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTZUR FOUNDATION INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOMCHEI TZEDAKA CORP: $3,830 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTorah Images Inc: $3,600 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FRIENDS OF JUSTIFI INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetJ-LIFE OUTREACH INC: $2,600 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetPLAYTHINKS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetA Torah Infertilty Medium Exchange: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYESHIVAS KESSER YONAH: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYeshivas Derech Hamelech INC: $1,980 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetYESHIVA ELEMENTARY INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KOLEL TIFERES YISROEL: $1,800 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE SELFHELP HOME INC: $1,540 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KOLLEL NACHLAS: $1,540 over 3y, 1.0% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

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

  • Who funds Just One Chesed Inc ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO CHESED FUND ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO MEZUZAH AND MITZVAH CAMPAIGN ↗
  • Who funds MIDWEST REFUAH HEALTH CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HEBRON FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds NETZACH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HOUSE OF HOPE INC ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES ↗
  • Who funds Central Fund of Israel ↗
  • Who funds MAOT CHITIM OF GREATER CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HINDA INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds HELPHOPELIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds CASA LAKE COUNTY INC ↗

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.

Todd a and Raphaela S…Bitton Family Foundat…Jack Adjmi Family Fou…Jewish Federation of …Zichron Yechiel Meche…The Ojc FundZichron Chaim Charity…Marbeh Shalom Foundat…The Jmg FoundationJewish Communal FundAlyad Foundation IncLev Zahav NFP
Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family FoundationIL110.2× affinity52 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family Foundation · Bitton Family Foundation Inc · Jack Adjmi Family Foundation Inc · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Zichron Yechiel Mechel Foundation · The Ojc Fund · Zichron Chaim Charity Fund · Marbeh Shalom Foundation Inc · The Jmg Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Alyad Foundation Inc · Lev Zahav NFP

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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 210%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Yeshiva of Greater Washington Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
21get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 425 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

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

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Aj & Sl Stern Family’s filings →

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