Illinois · Private foundation
C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $336k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 33
- Grants FY2024
- 30
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 17%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $2,500
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $75,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 28 to 53
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 6
- Total assets, FY2024
- $2.6M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 17% of the organizations C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 0% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 32 | $336k | 16% |
| FY2023 | 30 | $275k | 17% |
| FY2022 | 28 | $199k | 11% |
| FY2021 | 41 | $421k | 27% |
| FY2020 | 39 | $372k | 18% |
| FY2019 | 48 | $683k | 23% |
| FY2018 | 41 | $546k | 20% |
| FY2017 | 53 | $389k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Family Services | $816,600 | 8 | 1% |
| Numbersusa Education & Research Foundation | $365,000 | 8 | 1% |
| Chicago Shakespeare Theater | $360,500 | 8 | 0% |
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | $285,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Chicago Architecture Foundation | $75,500 | 8 | 0% |
| Music Associates of Aspen Inc | $68,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Center for Immigration Studies Inc | $36,000 | 8 | 0% |
| The Aspen Institute Inc | $32,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Illinois Humanities Council Inc | $29,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Chicago Foundation for Education | $20,000 | 3 | 1% |
Show all 75 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 28 recipients with no EIN on record ($962k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Richard and Mary L Gray Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Motorola Solutions Foundation · Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation · The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation · Fifth Third Chicagoland Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation
How this is measured
Compare C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation?
Find your warmest path to C Gary and Virginia Gerst 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.
About C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation
- How much does C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation give?
- C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation reported 33 grants totaling $336,096 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 28 and 53 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (42%), Human Services (25%), International (11%).
- Who are C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Metropolitan Family Services ($817k), Numbersusa Education & Research Foundation ($365k), Chicago Shakespeare Theater ($361k).
- Does C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 17% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Chicago Community Trust, John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation, Richard and Mary L Gray Foundation.
- Where is C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation based?
- C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on C Gary and Virginia Gerst’s filings →