Illinois · Private foundation
Backstop Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $12k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 1
- Grants FY2025
- 1
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 0%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $11,963
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $11,963
- Organizations funded a year
- 1 to 14
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 0% of the organizations Backstop Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 0% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 1 | $12k | 0% |
| FY2024 | 1 | $10k | 0% |
| FY2023 | 2 | $20k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 3 | $22k | 33% |
| FY2021 | 4 | $27k | 50% |
| FY2020 | 6 | $32k | 50% |
| FY2019 | 7 | $33k | 29% |
| FY2018 | 14 | $38k | 79% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernie's Book Bank | $101,963 | 9 | 0% |
| Invest for Kids Inc | $40,000 | 4 | 1% |
| Ravinia Festival Association | $7,500 | 2 | 0% |
| Paws Chicago | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Metrosquash Nfp | $2,500 | 1 | n/a |
| Hudson Highlands Nature Center | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| YWCA Metropolitan Chicago | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| United Help Ukraine Inc | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| The Lunchbox Fund | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Girls 4 Science | $1,910 | 1 | 1% |
Show all 20 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernie's Book Bank | $101,963 | 9 | 0% |
| Invest for Kids Inc | $40,000 | 4 | 1% |
| Ravinia Festival Association | $7,500 | 2 | 0% |
| Paws Chicago | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Metrosquash Nfp | $2,500 | 1 | n/a |
| Hudson Highlands Nature Center | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| YWCA Metropolitan Chicago | $2,500 | 1 | 0% |
| United Help Ukraine Inc | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| The Lunchbox Fund | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Girls 4 Science | $1,910 | 1 | 1% |
| Harlem Grown Inc | $1,000 | 1 | n/a |
| 100 Women in Finance Foundation | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Center on Halsted | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
| North Valley Animal Disaster Group | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Sarah's Circle | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Newroot Learning Institute F/K/A Umoja Student Development Corp | $600 | 1 | n/a |
| The Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund | $500 | 1 | 0% |
| Center for Neighborhood Technology | $450 | 1 | 0% |
| L'Arche Chicago Inc | $400 | 1 | 0% |
| Buck Hill Community Services Committee | $300 | 1 | n/a |
Plus 6 recipients with no EIN on record ($51k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Backstop Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Backstop Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Backstop 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.
About Backstop Foundation
- How much does Backstop Foundation give?
- Backstop Foundation reported 1 grants totaling $11,963 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 14 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Backstop Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Youth Development (46%), Human Services (40%), Arts & Culture (3%).
- Who are Backstop Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Bernie's Book Bank ($102k), Invest for Kids Inc ($40k), Ravinia Festival Association ($8k).
- Does Backstop Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 0% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Backstop Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Backstop Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Chicago Community Trust, John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation, Polk Bros Foundation Inc.
- Where is Backstop Foundation based?
- Backstop Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Backstop’s filings →