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Bls Family Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Bls Family Foundation

The foundation was organized to foster, promote, support, develop, encourage and maintain charitable activities and vital human and educational services as authorized in its by-laws and the charter of the jewish federation of metropolitan chicago.

$885k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

International$645kHuman Services$602kPhilanthropy$588kYouth Development$455kHealth$400kCrime & Legal$153kCommunity Improvement$115kReligion$68kOther$0
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $110k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $475k
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$60,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Friends Of The Children - Chicago$300,000
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago$115,000
The Ark$100,000
American Friends of NATAL-Israel Trauma Center$100,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$100,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$60,000
Stop Stalking Us Inc$25,000
Metropolitan Family Services$25,000
Lawndale Christian Legal Center$25,000
New Israel Fund$25,000
Project Unloaded$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 (FY18–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Stop Stalking Us Inc: $25k → 14%STOP STALKING US INC: $25k → 14%FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO: $75k → 14%Friends of the Children - Chicago: $50k → 14%Friends of the Children - Chicago: $30k → 14%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES: $25k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $25k → 14%Friends Of The Children - Chicago: $300k → 14%THE ARK: $180k → 14%The Ark: $100k → 14%The ARK: $80k → 14%The ARK: $55k → 14%The ARK: $30k → 14%The ARK: $25k → 14%Council for Jewish Elderly: $12k → 14%The ARK: $10k → 14%The ARK: $10k → 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.
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of Bls Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 84% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 79%.

Bls Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 4.6% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.6M · 14 repeat orgs$190k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +18% since the first grant, against -4% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
3

Total granted

$2.6M
$40k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
-4%

Still filing today

86%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $150k 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
Human ServicesHealthPhilanthropyCrime & LegalRecreation & SportsEducationOther
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

  • TA
    THE ARK
    8× · 2018–2025 · $490k · revenue +83%
  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    9× · 2017–2025 · $455k · revenue +13%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO
    4× · 2022–2025 · $455k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • JW
    Jewish Women International
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue -4%
  • CF
    COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY
    one grant, 2021 · $12k · revenue -12%
  • BC
    BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP
    one grant, 2022 · $8k · revenue -3%
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
Heal Chicago

To strengthen communities through educational dialogue, leadership development, emotional resilience, and intercultural competence programs that help people bridge differences and build trust.

Public Benefit
2
Jewish Child and Family Services

JCFS Chicago services and programs support wellbeing for children, teens, adults and families regardless of race, culture, religion, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, or…

Human Services
3
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
4
Greater Miami Jewish Federation Inc

The mission of the greater miami jewish federation is to mobilize human and financial resources to care for those in need, strengthen jewish life and advance the unity, values and shared purpose of the jewish people in miami, in israel and…

Philanthropy
5
Jewish Family Services of Greenwich

Jewish family services of greenwich (jfs) is a nonprofit social service agency dedicated to strengthening individuals and families in fairfield and new london counties. jfs provides behavioral health counseling, food security programs,…

—
6
Jewish Vocational Service & Employment Center

Since 1884, Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) Chicago has been committed to improving life through employment and productivity, recognizing that personal development is a lifetime endeavor. JVS Chicago serves more than 2,300 employees,…

—
7
United Way of Illinois

Strengthen United Way movement in Illinois

Philanthropy
8
Live Free Chicago

Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…

—
9
National Council of Jewish Women Inc Jersey Hills Section
—
10
Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta Inc

The jewish federation of greater atlanta cares for, connects and strengthens our jewish community throughout greater atlanta, israel and the world.

Philanthropy
11
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

Jcrc-ny builds relationships to advance the values, interests and security of the new york jewish community and to create a more interconnected new york for all.

Civil Rights
12
Ywca Metropolitan Chicago

The ywca is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc; the most unlike its peers is Stop Stalking Us Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

23 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. 23 of the 24 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/23
Grantees still filing
12/23
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE ARK: $490,000 · Human ServicesTHE ARKFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO: $455,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGOMetropolitan Family Services: $50,000 · Human ServicesSTOP STALKING US INC: $50,000 · Human Services+1 more: $12,000 · Human ServicesJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $455,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METR…UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $115,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN…JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $107,500 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO…THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyThe Chicago Community Trust: $25,000 · PhilanthropyUniversity of Chicago Medical Center: $330,000 · HealthUniversity of …SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $70,000 · HealthSINAI HEALTH S…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NATAL INC: $270,000 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIEN…NEW ISRAEL FUND: $130,000 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL FUN…I Grow Chicago NFP: $115,000 · OtherI Grow Chi…Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights: $85,000 · OtherHeartland …AM YISRAEL CONSERVATIVE CONGREGATION OF THE NORTH: $35,000 · OtherAM YISRAEL…Jewish Women International: $20,000 · OtherJewish Wom…YOGACARE: $15,000 · OtherPROJECT UNLOADED INC: $10,000 · Other+1 more: $7,500 · OtherInstitute for Nonviolence Chicago: $127,500 · Crime & LegalLAWNDALE CHRISTIAN LEGAL CENTER: $25,000 · Crime & LegalOROT THE CENTER FOR NEW JEWISH LEARNING: $32,500 · Religion
Human Services$1,057,000Philanthropy$727,500Health$400,000International$400,000Other$287,500Crime & Legal$152,500Religion$32,500

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 budgetTHE ARK: $490,000 over 8y, 1.6% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $455,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO: $455,000 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetUniversity of Chicago Medical Center: $330,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF NATAL INC: $270,000 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $130,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetInstitute for Nonviolence Chicago: $127,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $115,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetI Grow Chicago NFP: $115,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $107,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHeartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights: $85,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $70,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTOP STALKING US INC: $50,000 over 2y, 50% of budgetOROT THE CENTER FOR NEW JEWISH LEARNING: $32,500 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetLAWNDALE CHRISTIAN LEGAL CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Chicago Community Trust: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJewish Women International: $20,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetYOGACARE: $15,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT UNLOADED INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $7,500 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

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.

The Chicago Community…Circle of Service Fou…Jewish Federation of …Arie and Ida Crown Me…United Way of Metropo…John D and Catherine …Polk Bros Foundation …AbbVie FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…
The Chicago Community TrustIL18.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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 Bls Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Bls 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 24 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 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 Bls 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