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Plinth

· Private foundation

Bruce S & Jan L Tranen Charitable 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.

$1k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1k
Largest
01What you fund
0170% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Religion$8kFood & Nutrition$6kArts & Culture$4kHealth$1kInternational$1kCivil Rights$1kEducation$260Animals$202Other$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$1,250
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$1,250
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FSH Society: $100 → 8%Wikimedia Foundation: $10 → 10%AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE: $1k → 17%FPC Global Outreach: $500 → 10%Ride Illinois: $100 → 7%Steppenwolf: $250 → 14%Pallas Theatre Collective: $1k → 8%Lawyers for Children Inc: $50 → 17%LINCOLN PARK ZOO: $90 → 14%Natl Council of Jewish Women - NEW YORK SECTION: $1k → 17%Shedd Aquarium: $112 → 14%Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund: $100 → 17%Planned Parenthood of Illinois: $250 → 14%WTTW: $100 → 14%WFMT: $100 → 14%NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $250 → 14%ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE: $100 → 14%Chicago Public Radio WBEZ: $365 → 14%Museum of Contemporary Art: $85 → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $134k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $78k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $44k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $39k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $37k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $24k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $24k → 14%Lakeview Food Pantry: $5k → 14%CHARITABLE DONATIONS: $1k → 14%TEMPLE SHOLOM: $8k → 14%Timeline Theatre Company: $250 → 14%JUF of Metro Chicago: $72 → 14%Journeycare Foundation: $1k → 14%Chicago Dramatists Workshop: $500 → 14%Adventure Stage Chicago: $200 → 14%Porchlight Music Theatre: $250 → 14%CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $2k → 14%GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $1k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
American Water Works Association

To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.

Public Benefit
2
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
3
Lyric Opera of Chicago

We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the…

Arts & Culture
4
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
5
Chicago Sun-Times Media Inc

Chicago sun-times serves the public interest by strengthening the well-being of our local communities and our democracy through independent local journalism.

6
Chicago Zoological Society

To inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.

Animals
7
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

8
Chicago Historical Society

The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…

Arts & Culture
9
National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
10
Chicago Public Media Inc

Chicago public media's mission is to strengthen the well-being of our local communities and our democracy through independent local journalism. chicago public media produces accessible, trusted news, information and programming that helps…

Arts & Culture
11
Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

The Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (the Museum), a 501(c)(3) corporation, is the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere and home to thousands of artifacts. For 90 years, the Museum has been a premier…

Arts & Culture
12
Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Museum of Contemporary Art and the most unlike its peers is American Jewish World Service Inc. 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

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 30 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Individual grant recipient — $381,206 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+19 more — $17,237 · OtherChicago Symphony Orchestra — $1,500 · Arts & CultureTIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY — $250 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC — $100 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $85 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN NEW YORK SECTION — $1,000 · Community ImprovementGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $1,000 · Food & NutritionThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) — $1,000 · ReligionAMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE INC — $1,000 · InternationalPlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $250 · HealthFSHD SOCIETY — $100 · Health
Other$398,443Arts & Culture$1,935Community Improvement$1,000Food & Nutrition$1,000Religion$1,000International$1,000Health$350

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra — $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN NEW YORK SECTION — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY — $112 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INTREPID FALLEN HEROES FUND — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFSHD SOCIETY — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetACTIVE TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $90 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $85 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAWYERS FOR CHILDREN INC — $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC — $10 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA10.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Bruce S & Jan L Tranen Charitable Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 30 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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