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Blazer Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Blazer 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$702k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$2.2MRecreation & Sports$1.8MHealth$941kHuman Services$798kArts & Culture$572kEnvironment$320kHousing & Shelter$287kFood & Nutrition$153kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k9 grants · $46k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $175k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $230k
  • $250k+2 grants · $971k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT$702,000
Individual grant recipient$268,500
GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE$104,890
LAURENT HOUSE$75,500
205 DIRECT DENTAL SERVICES$50,000
BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE$40,000
MILESTONE INC$28,500
Individual grant recipient$22,324
GOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION$21,149
SPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS$12,300
DISCOVERY CENTER MUSEUM$11,000
TOMMY CORRAL MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$10,000
PEC PLAYHOUSE THEATRE$10,000
REGIONAL ACCESS & MOBILIZATION PROJECT$10,000
CHRISTIAN LIFE SCHOOLS$10,000
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 (FY17–25, $780k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, 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%MILESTONE: $50k → 15%MILESTONE: $36k → 15%MILESTONE: $28k → 15%MILESTONE: $26k → 15%MILESTONE: $24k → 15%MILESTONE: $23k → 15%FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%GOLDIE FLOBERG CENTER: $54k → 15%FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%GOLDIE FLOBERG CENTER: $15k → 15%GOLDIE FLOBERG CENTER: $15k → 15%GOLDIE FLOBERG CENTER: $12k → 15%GOLDIE FLOBERG CENTER: $35k → 15%CIRCLE OF CHANGE: $5k → 15%CIRCLE OF CHANGE: $5k → 15%LAURENT HOUSE FOUNDATION: $77k → 15%LAURENT HOUSE FOUNDATION: $20k → 15%MILESTONE INC: $85k → 15%YMCA OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY: $45k → 15%MILESTONE INC: $29k → 15%BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $40k → 15%BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $35k → 15%BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $28k → 15%BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $28k → 15%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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.3M · 40 repeat orgs$698k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 25 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
36

Total granted

$7.3M
$598k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+5%

Still filing today

55%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyHousing & ShelterFood & NutritionOther
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

  • RP
    ROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2022 · $320k · revenue +55%
  • RA
    REGIONAL ACCESS & MOBILIZATION PROJECT INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $312k · revenue +104%
  • MI
    MILESTONE INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $300k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • RS
    RIVER SOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $75k
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
    one grant, 2024 · $63k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $55k
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
The Rockford Institute

To provide analysis and commentary on cultural, economic, political, and educational issues through a published monthly opinion magazine and to operate continuing adult educational conferences in american and european literature and…

—
2
Rockford Day Nursery

It is the mission of this corporation to provide quality care for children between the ages of six weeks and twelve years whose parents are employed or in training.

Human Services
3
Rockford Area Economic Development Council Inc

The rockford area economic development council cultivates opportunities for primary job growth that increase the economic well-being of our region

—
4
Riverside Arts Center

Through free exhibitions, arts education and life-long learning for all ages, rac is an advocate for the vital role the arts play in nurturing community, amplifying diverse experiences, ideas, and backgrounds.

Arts & Culture
5
Rimland Services Nfp

Provide community-based residential housing to adults with autism and/or severe developmental disabilities. also provide developmental training and other supports to this same population.

Human Services
6
Transform Rockford
Community Improvement
7
Stepping Stones of Rockford Inc

Residential rehabilitation for mentally and emotionally disabled adults.

Human Services
8
Mosaic Illinois Housing of Rockford I

The organization provides low income affordable housing under illinois housing development authority guidelines.

Health
9
Rockford Christian Education Association

To challenge young people to know christ as lord, apply god's truth in all areas of life, love others sacrifically, and achieve the highest level of knowledge and skill in order to serve god and others

Education
10
Rockport Cultural Arts District

Bring recognition to the cultural arts and promote economic and cultural development in the downtown rockport area.

Arts & Culture
11
Rockport Art Association

Advancement and preservation of the fine arts through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations and educational programs.

Arts & Culture
12
Rimrock Foundation

We create opportunity for those impacted by addiction and mental illness through innovative, compassionate, and life change care.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Rockford Rescue Mission Ministries; the most unlike its peers is The Fatherhood Encouragement Project. 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

47 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. 47 of the 85 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
28/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF IL COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: $2,000,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF IL COLLEGE OF MEDICINEROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT: $1,706,000 · OtherROCKFORD PARK DISTRICTIndividual grant recipient: $413,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientREGIONAL ACCESS & MOBILIZATION PROJECT INC: $312,000 · OtherGIGIS PLAYHOUSE INC: $269,899 · Other+52 more: $1,575,382 · Other+52 moreMILESTONE INC: $300,128 · Human ServicesMILESTONE I…GOLDIE B FLOBERG CENTER: $130,500 · Human ServicesGOLDIE B FL…BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $130,000 · Human ServicesBARBARA OLS…LAURENT HOUSE FOUNDATION INC: $96,485 · Human ServicesLAURENT HOU…THE FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $67,500 · Human ServicesTHE FISH-AB…YMCA OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY: $45,000 · Human ServicesYMCA OF ROC…+1 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $319,900 · EnvironmentUNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC: $115,000 · EducationROCKFORD RESCUE MISSION MINISTRIES: $35,755 · EducationRSM FOUNDATION INC: $26,000 · EducationROCKFORD UNIVERSITY: $7,000 · Education+2 more: $6,000 · EducationDISCOVERY CENTER MUSEUM OF ROCKFORD INC: $98,210 · Arts & CultureWest Side Show Room: $20,000 · Arts & CultureHARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: $11,500 · Arts & CulturePEC PLAYHOUSE THEATRE INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureROCKFORD AREA ARTS COUNCIL: $9,000 · Arts & CultureChildren's Hands on Museum of NW IL: $8,572 · Arts & CultureROCKFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC: $6,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $12,750 · Arts & CultureLIFESCAPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $146,600 · Food & NutritionANGELIC ORGANICS LEARNING CENTER INC: $6,830 · Food & NutritionHOPE REIGNS RANCH: $64,959 · HealthREMEDIES RENEWING LIVES: $12,149 · Health
Other$6,276,781Human Services$779,613Environment$319,900Education$189,755Arts & Culture$176,032Food & Nutrition$153,430Health$77,108

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 budgetROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $319,900 over 6y, 8.0% of budgetREGIONAL ACCESS & MOBILIZATION PROJECT INC: $312,000 over 9y, 3.3% of budgetMILESTONE INC: $300,128 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetHOOSIER CARE INC: $195,972 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetLIFESCAPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $146,600 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGOLDIE B FLOBERG CENTER: $130,500 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetBARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE: $130,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC: $115,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDISCOVERY CENTER MUSEUM OF ROCKFORD INC: $98,210 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetLAURENT HOUSE FOUNDATION INC: $96,485 over 2y, 44% of budgetTHE FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION: $67,500 over 9y, 68% of budgetHOPE REIGNS RANCH: $64,959 over 9y, 30% of budgetYMCA OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY: $45,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetGOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING: $39,175 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetROCKFORD RESCUE MISSION MINISTRIES: $35,755 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY: $35,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetRSM FOUNDATION INC: $26,000 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetROSECRANCE FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF OGLE COUNTY: $19,000 over 3y, 8.8% of budgetROCKFORD AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetJEREMIAH DEVELOPMENT NFP: $13,200 over 1y, 10% of budgetROCKFORD REACHOUT JAIL MINISTRY: $13,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetRIVERFRONT MUSEUM PARK: $12,800 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetREMEDIES RENEWING LIVES: $12,149 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHARRY AND DELLA BURPEE MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: $11,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCircle of Change: $10,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetPEC PLAYHOUSE THEATRE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB ASSOCIATION OF ROCKFORD: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetROCKFORD AREA ARTS COUNCIL: $9,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetROCKFORD UNIVERSITY: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANGELIC ORGANICS LEARNING CENTER INC: $6,830 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetROCKFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetKFACT INC KEEPING FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES TOGETHER: $5,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetNikolas Ritschel Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTHE LINCOLN ACADEMY OF ILLINOIS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CORONADO: $5,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetROCKFORD ART MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE ARC OF WINNEBAGO BOONE & OGLE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetWORLD VISION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FATHERHOOD ENCOURAGEMENT PROJECT: $4,200 over 1y, 21% of budgetMIDWAY VILLAGE & MUSEUM CENTER: $2,750 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetROCKFORD ASSOC FOR MINORITY MGMNT: $1,000 over 1y, 1.8% 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 ROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds REGIONAL ACCESS & MOBILIZATION PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds MILESTONE INC ↗
  • Who funds HOOSIER CARE INC ↗
  • Who funds LIFESCAPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds GOLDIE B FLOBERG CENTER ↗
  • Who funds BARBARA OLSON CENTER OF HOPE ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS INC ↗
  • Who funds DISCOVERY CENTER MUSEUM OF ROCKFORD INC ↗
  • Who funds LAURENT HOUSE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE FISH-ABLED FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HOPE REIGNS RANCH ↗
  • Who funds YMCA OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds GOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING ↗
  • Who funds ROCKFORD RESCUE MISSION MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF ROCK RIVER VALLEY ↗
  • Who funds RSM FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ROSECRANCE FOUNDATION 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.

Community Foundation …The Kjellstrom Family…Bergstrom Inc Charita…United Way of Rock Ri…Tracy E Anderson Char…The David & Colleen A…Sjostrom & Sons Found…Jeffrey R Anderson Ch…The Ben Harding Famil…John & Linda Anderson…Woodward Governor Cha…Smith Charitable Foun…
Community Foundation of Northern ILIL75.6× affinity34 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Northern IL · The Kjellstrom Family Foundation · Bergstrom Inc Charitable Foundation Xxxxx2008 · United Way of Rock River Valley · Tracy E Anderson Charitable Foundation · The David & Colleen Anderson Charitable Foundation · Sjostrom & Sons Foundation · Jeffrey R Anderson Charitable Foundation · The Ben Harding Family Foundation · John & Linda Anderson Charitable Foundation · Woodward Governor Charitable Trust · Smith Charitable Foundation Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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 Blazer Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Blazer Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.

    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 85 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Blazer’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