Skip to content
Bolhous Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bolhous 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.

$150k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2025.

Education$285kArts & Culture$195kYouth Development$185kScience & Tech$145kHuman Services$90kPhilanthropy$90kCommunity Improvement$55kEmployment$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$15,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$198k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LADIES OF VIRTUE$15,000
CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION$15,000
MEAN GIRLS EMPOWERMENT$15,000
HOPE CHICAGO$15,000
FOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING$15,000
CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE CENTER$15,000
CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN$15,000
YWCA METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$15,000
PEGGY NOTEBAERT NATURE MUSEUM$15,000
YOUTH GUIDANCE$15,000
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 (FY22–25, $70k) 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%YWCA METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $15k → 14%ILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE: $25k → 14%ILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE: $25k → 14%ILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE: $5k → 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.
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.
$940k · 15 repeat orgs$70k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against -12% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
3

Total granted

$940k
$55k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
-12%

Still filing today

93%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesPhilanthropyEmploymentOther
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

  • TC
    THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $90k · revenue +45%
  • CC
    City Colleges of Chicago Foundation
    2× · 2023–2024 · $70k · revenue +16%
  • HC
    HOPE CHICAGO INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $65k · revenue +75%

Funded once

  • SF
    SKILLS FOR CHICAGO
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -22%
  • MR
    MANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE FKA CENTER FOR LABOR AND COMMUN
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue -12%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
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
Students Run Chicago
Health
2
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
3
Chicago's Environmental Fund
—
4
Chicago Toy & Game Foundation
—
5
Girls in Stem
Human Services
6
Chicago Cred Inc
Employment
7
The Chicago Scholars Foundation

Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.

Education
8
Chicago Council on Science & Technology

The Chicago Council on Science and Technology's (C2ST) mission is to inspire and engage all segments of society about science and technology and their contributions to society.

Science & Tech
9
Future Founders Foundation

Future founders is building the nation's largest inclusive community of intentional young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial-minded leaders.

Education
10
Chicago Freedom Trust
Philanthropy
11
The Veterans Exchange

Employment support and exchange for veterans

—
12
Chicago Board of Trade Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children First Fund the Chicago Public Schools Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Chicago Innovation Foundation. 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

18 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. 18 of the 20 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
8/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $90,000 · OtherCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMENYWCA: $75,000 · OtherYWCACity Colleges of Chicago Foundation: $70,000 · OtherCity Colleges of Chicago Foundatio…HOPE CHICAGO INC: $65,000 · OtherHOPE CHICAGO INCMANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE FKA CENTER FOR LABOR AND COMMUN: $20,000 · OtherMANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE FKA CENT…+1 more: $10,000 · OtherCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100,000 · EducationCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHI…Youth Guidance: $60,000 · EducationYouth GuidanceTHE GRAY MATTER EXPERIENCE INC: $55,000 · EducationTHE GRAY MATTER EXPERIENCE …PROJECT SYNCERE: $50,000 · EducationPROJECT SYNCEREChicago Architecture Foundation: $85,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Architecture…THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $60,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CHICAGO ACADEMY …PROJECT EXPLORATION: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePROJECT EXPLORATIONFOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING: $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentFOCUS FAIRIE…LADIES OF VIRTUE: $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentLADIES OF VI…MEAN Girls Empowerment: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentMEAN Girls E…THE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION: $90,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CHICA…ILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE: $55,000 · Human ServicesYWCA METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $15,000 · Human ServicesSKILLS FOR CHICAGO: $25,000 · Employment
Other$330,000Education$265,000Arts & Culture$195,000Youth Development$125,000Philanthropy$90,000Human Services$70,000Employment$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $90,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetChicago Architecture Foundation: $85,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCity Colleges of Chicago Foundation: $70,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetHOPE CHICAGO INC: $65,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $60,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetYouth Guidance: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE: $55,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetTHE GRAY MATTER EXPERIENCE INC: $55,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetPROJECT EXPLORATION: $50,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetPROJECT SYNCERE: $50,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetFOCUS FAIRIES MENTORING: $45,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetLADIES OF VIRTUE: $45,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetMEAN Girls Empowerment: $35,000 over 3y, 7.7% of budgetSKILLS FOR CHICAGO: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE FKA CENTER FOR LABOR AND COMMUN: $20,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetYWCA METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $15,000 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…Cme Group FoundationUnited Way of Metropo…Polk Bros Foundation …Robert R McCormick Fo…Motorola Solutions Fo…Tides FoundationPritzker Traubert Fou…The Christopher Famil…Chicago Foundation fo…John D and Catherine …Jpmorgan Chase Founda…
The Chicago Community TrustIL20.6× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Cme Group Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Motorola Solutions Foundation · Tides Foundation · Pritzker Traubert Foundation · The Christopher Family Foundation · Chicago Foundation for Women · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 Bolhous Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Bolhous 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 20 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 Bolhous’ 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