Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Alverin M Cornell Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$6.7M
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$6.7M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 FY2020–2025.

Philanthropy$9.6MEducation$548kHealth$435kEnvironment$165kYouth Development$100kHuman Services$40kArts & Culture$35kReligion$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $250k+1 grant · $6.7M
$8,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALVERIN M CORNELL FOUNDATION DONOR$6,686,205
LADDER UP$8,000
CPA ENDOWMENT FUND OF ILLINOIS$3,000
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 (FY20–21, $85k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%YOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING: $40k → 8%YOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING: $30k → 8%YOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING: $10k → 8%ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $5k → 8%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.

Which US states your grants reach

MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NC

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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$11M · 15 repeat orgs$252k to everyone else

15 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
23

Total granted

$11M
$252k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+60%

Still filing today

80%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureHousing & ShelterEnvironmentOther

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

  • DM
    DANIEL MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP FUND
    2× · 2020–2021 · $200k · revenue +89%
  • VO
    VOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL
    2× · 2020–2021 · $160k · revenue +37%
  • Culver Educational Foundation
    2× · 2020–2021 · $125k · revenue +69%

Funded once

  • SI
    SHELTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $30k · revenue +244%
  • PF
    PEO Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +60%
  • HY
    HOWARD YOUNG FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +23%

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
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
2
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
3
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
4
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
5
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
6
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
7
Lake Forest Academy

Lake forest academy strives to embody in its practices - and to cultivate in its students -excellence of character, scholarship, citizenship, and responsibility.

Education
8
Rockford University

To educate men & women to lead responsible lives by means of a curriculum grounded in liberal arts learning and complemented and extended by professional and practical experience, through the total academic and co-curricular experience,…

Education
9
The Family Institute

Our mission is to strengthen and heal families and individuals from all walks of life through clinical service, education and research.

—
10
Lakeside Community Committee

To enhance the quality of life for children and families by inspiring hope and empowerment and growth within all whom we serve.

Human Services
11
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
12
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shelter Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Roberti Community House. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyChristian Youth CampsCommunity Arts OrganizationsFallen First Responder Supp…Education Equity LeadershipDevelopmental Disabilities …Domestic Violence Crisis Se…Classical Music EnsemblesCancer Support OrganizationsChild and Family ServicesFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Land Conservation Organizat…Community Health Centers
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 47 years old; the field is 19. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr13%4%5–10yr19%4%10–20yr17%35%20–35yr15%23%35–55yr17%35%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr13%1%5–10yr19%1%10–20yr17%29%20–35yr15%26%35–55yr17%44%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 9% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/28
the rest of the field
9%
7,129/78,134

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

27 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. 27 of the 39 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
20/27
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ALVERIN M CORNELL FOUNDATION DONOR — $9,500,666 · OtherALVERIN M CORNELL FOUNDATION DONOR+19 more — $563,000 · Other+19 moreALEXIAN BROTHERS HEALTH SYSTEM — $250,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $60,000 · Health+1 more — $10,000 · HealthCulver Educational Foundation — $125,000 · EducationFoundation for Special Education District of Lake County — $50,000 · EducationLADDER UP (F/K/A CITY-WIDE TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM) — $43,500 · EducationPEO Foundation — $25,000 · EducationCPA ENDOWMENT FUND OF ILLINOIS — $16,000 · EducationALMA COLLEGE — $10,000 · EducationWaukegan To College NFP — $10,000 · EducationPARK LAWN SCHOOL AND ACTIVITY CENTER IN C — $10,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $10,000 · EducationVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL — $160,000 · EnvironmentYOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING — $80,000 · Human ServicesThe Roberti Community House — $5,000 · Human ServicesRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION — $35,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Arts & CultureSHELTER INC — $30,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE LAKE COUNTY HAVEN — $12,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$10,063,666Health$320,000Education$299,500Environment$160,000Human Services$85,000Arts & Culture$45,000Housing & Shelter$42,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetALEXIAN BROTHERS HEALTH SYSTEM — $250,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDANIEL MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP FUND — $200,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL — $160,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetCulver Educational Foundation — $125,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBy The Hand Club For Kids — $100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetYOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING — $80,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFoundation for Special Education District of Lake County — $50,000 over 2y, 9.6% of budgetLADDER UP (F/K/A CITY-WIDE TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM) — $43,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION — $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSHELTER INC — $30,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetHOWARD YOUNG FOUNDATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMax McGraw Wildlife Foundation — $18,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCPA ENDOWMENT FUND OF ILLINOIS — $16,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetTHE LAKE COUNTY HAVEN — $12,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLOVE INC OF LAKE COUNTY — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetALMA COLLEGE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSamaritan Interfaith Counseling Center — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPARK LAWN SCHOOL AND ACTIVITY CENTER IN C — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHANGING WORLDS — $8,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCAMPING AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Roberti Community House — $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

The Chicago Community…AbbVie FoundationNational Philanthropi…The Ayco Charitable F…The Lake County Commu…Trustmark FoundationUnited Way of Metropo…Baxter International …Arthur J Gallagher Fo…Baird Foundation IncUnited Way of Lake Co…Harold M & Adeline S …
The Chicago Community TrustIL20.6× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · AbbVie Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · The Lake County Community Foundation · Trustmark Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Baxter International Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · United Way of Lake County Inc · Harold M & Adeline S Morrison Family 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 Alverin M Cornell Foundation 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%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Alverin M Cornell Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Alverin M Cornell 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 39 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. 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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines