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Bluespruce Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bluespruce 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.

$982k
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$397k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Philanthropy$4.1MEducation$337kHealth$308kHousing & Shelter$300kRecreation & Sports$145kHuman Services$45kArts & Culture$35kYouth Development$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $49k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $100k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+2 grants · $783k
$5,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$5k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Edward and Jennifer Magnus Schwab Charitable Fund$396,614
Hurd Family Donor Advised Fund$386,615
WINGS Program Inc$50,000
Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation$25,000
Northwestern University$25,000
Chicago Historical Society$10,000
Stanford University Development Services$10,000
Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation$10,000
Second Stage Theater$10,000
ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation$10,000
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center$5,000
Aspen Education Foundation$5,000
Aspen Valley Health Foundation$5,000
Injustice Watch$5,000
Independence Pass Foundation$5,000
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 (FY20–25, $31k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 53% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 8%LEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $3k → 6%ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation: $10k → 14%HOPEHEALTH HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE: $5k → 14%LEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $3k → 6%CHADTOUGH DEFEAT DIPG FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%LEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $3k → 6%LEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $3k → 6%Lead the way Fund Inc: $3k → 6%LEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $2k → 6%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

WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
RI
CA
CO
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.1M · 18 repeat orgs$132k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
12

Total granted

$4.1M
$84k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+24%

Still filing today

83%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $48k 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
HealthArts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • WP
    WINGS PROGRAM INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $300k · revenue +122%
  • AE
    ASPEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2025 · $181k · revenue +79%
  • Northwestern University
    5× · 2021–2025 · $125k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • MG
    MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM HOME CARE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • SO
    STANFORD ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL FUND
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
  • TA
    THE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +31%
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
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
2
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
6
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
7
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
8
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
9
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
10
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
11
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
12
University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc; the most unlike its peers is Injustice Watch Nfp. 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

33 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. 33 of the 42 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
21/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EDWARD AND JENNIFER MAGNUS SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUND: $1,633,670 · OtherEDWARD AND JENNIFER MAGNUS SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUNDHURD FAMILY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $1,480,571 · OtherHURD FAMILY DONOR ADVISED FUNDREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $205,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN+23 more: $208,250 · Other+23 moreDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $986,595 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITA…+1 more: $7,600 · PhilanthropyWINGS PROGRAM INC: $300,000 · Housing & ShelterASPEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $180,500 · EmploymentNorthwestern University: $125,000 · Recreation & SportsAspen Football: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · EducationTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $6,250 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $5,500 · Education+1 more: $500 · EducationAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation: $53,000 · HealthChildren's Hospital Colorado Foundation: $10,000 · HealthHOPEHEALTH COMMUNITY VNA INC: $5,000 · HealthFred Hutchinson Cancer Center: $5,000 · HealthHENRY SCHUELER 41 & 9 FOUNDATION: $3,500 · Health
Other$3,527,491Philanthropy$994,195Housing & Shelter$300,000Employment$180,500Recreation & Sports$145,000Education$122,250Health$76,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $986,595 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINGS PROGRAM INC: $300,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetASPEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $180,500 over 4y, 7.7% of budgetNorthwestern University: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation: $53,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetInjustice Watch NFP: $25,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetAspen Football: $20,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetHOPE IGNITES CHICAGO: $15,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetLEAD THE WAY FUND INC: $14,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCHADTOUGH DEFEAT DIPG FOUNDATION: $11,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMary Meyer School: $11,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTHREE FIRES COUNCIL INC BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA #127: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HAYMARKET OPERA COMPANY NFP: $10,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $7,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $6,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPEHEALTH COMMUNITY VNA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINDEPENDENCE PASS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetLAKESIDE PRIDE MUSIC ENSEMBLES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetHOPEHEALTH HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDANA-FARBER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFred Hutchinson Cancer Center: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHENRY SCHUELER 41 & 9 FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CATHERINE COOK SCHOOL: $250 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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…Chubb Charitable Foun…John D and Catherine …Gs Donor Advised Phil…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…The Ayco Charitable F…AbbVie FoundationBaird Foundation IncThe Blackbaud Giving …The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…
The Chicago Community TrustIL14.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Chubb Charitable Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
3report 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 Bluespruce Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bluespruce 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 42 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 Bluespruce’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