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C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2024still arriving
33
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$75k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.4MHuman Services$818kInternational$368kPhilanthropy$223kEducation$164kReligion$131kCivil Rights$36kSocial Science$32kOther$0
02FY2024 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k23 grants · $39k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $119k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $178k
$2,500
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Numbers USA Education and Research foundation$75,000
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre$53,000
Court Theater$50,000
Lyric Opera of Chicago$35,000
Metropolitan Family Services$26,500
Dearfield Academy$17,500
Center For Immigration Studies$10,000
Aspen Public Radio$10,000
Northwestern Memorial Foundation$10,000
Sacred Heart Schools$10,000
Newberry Library$5,000
Aspen Music Festival and School$5,000
Porchlight Music Theatre$5,000
Chicago Architecture Foundation$5,000
Northlight Theatre$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 (FY17–24, $818k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%City Kids Camp: $600 → 12%On Belay Inc: $100 → 5%Metropolitan Family Services: $317k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $216k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $130k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $40k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $35k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $27k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $27k → 14%Metropolitan Family Services: $25k → 14%Chicago Child Care Society: $200 → 14%Children's Home and Aid: $250 → 14%Children's Home and Aid: $100 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
IL
MI
NY
MA
OH
CA
CO
NE
KY
VA
DC
GA
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.
$3.1M · 52 repeat orgs$107k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

52 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
46

Total granted

$3.1M
$39k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+19%

Still filing today

71%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $69k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesInternationalRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • MF
    Metropolitan Family Services
    8× · 2017–2024 · $817k · revenue +332%
  • LO
    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    8× · 2017–2024 · $285k · revenue +33%
  • MA
    MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $68k · revenue +141%

Funded once

  • VC
    VASSAR COLLEGE
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +19%
  • RU
    Rush University Medical Centergraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +51%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
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
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
2
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
3
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
4
The Chicago High School for the Arts

The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…

Education
5
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
6
Chicago Theatre Group Inc

The chicago theatre group is committed to producing both classic and contemporary works giving full voice to a wide range of artists and visions. by dedicating itself to three guiding principles - quality, equity, and community - the…

Arts & Culture
7
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
8
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
9
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
10
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
11
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
12
The Chicago Bar Foundation

The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Humanities Council Inc; the most unlike its peers is Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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

76 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. 76 of the 105 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)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
76/76
Grantees still filing
54/76
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Chicago - Court Theatre: $268,850 · OtherUniversity of Chicago - Court TheatreNorthwestern Memorial Foundation: $222,500 · OtherNorthwestern Memorial FoundationSt Chrysostom's Episcopal Church: $130,000 · OtherSt Chrysostom's Episcopal ChurchNorth Shore Country Day: $72,100 · OtherNorth Shore Country DayAspen Public Radio: $72,000 · OtherAspen Public RadioSacred Heart Schools: $65,500 · OtherSacred Heart SchoolsCourt Theater: $50,000 · Other+56 more: $174,062 · Other+56 moreCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $360,500 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATERLyric Opera of Chicago: $285,000 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of ChicagoChicago Architecture Foundation: $75,500 · Arts & CultureChicago Architecture Foundatio…MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC: $68,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INCILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC: $29,000 · Arts & Culture+17 more: $46,536 · Arts & Culture+17 moreMetropolitan Family Services: $816,600 · Human ServicesMetropolitan Family Services+4 more: $1,250 · Human ServicesNUMBERSUSA EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $365,000 · InternationalNUMBERSUSA E…+2 more: $2,650 · InternationalASPEN SCIENCE CENTER: $19,500 · EducationTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $8,750 · EducationCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $6,500 · EducationUniversity of Chicago: $6,000 · EducationSULLIVAN HOUSE HIGH SCHOOL INC: $3,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $2,750 · EducationILLINOIS NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS: $2,000 · Education+3 more: $550 · EducationCenter for Immigration Studies Inc: $36,000 · Civil RightsTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $32,000 · Social Science
Other$1,055,012Arts & Culture$864,536Human Services$817,850International$367,650Education$49,050Civil Rights$36,000Social Science$32,000

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 budgetMetropolitan Family Services: $816,600 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetNUMBERSUSA EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $365,000 over 8y, 1.3% of budgetCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $360,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $285,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Architecture Foundation: $75,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC: $68,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCenter for Immigration Studies Inc: $36,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $32,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC: $29,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetChicago Foundation for Education: $20,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetASPEN SCIENCE CENTER: $19,500 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $14,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetVictory Gardens Theater: $12,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $8,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetOPENLANDS: $8,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BUDDY PROGRAM INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budget626 LANDMARK FOUNDATION: $6,676 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $6,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetChildren's Hospital Colorado Foundation: $6,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE PARKS: $5,250 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $5,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVASSAR COLLEGE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWriters Theatre Inc: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY CHICAGO: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSULLIVAN HOUSE HIGH SCHOOL INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $2,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGRANT PARK ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION: $2,505 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetILLINOIS NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $1,950 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetASPEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1,900 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetACTIVE TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE: $1,700 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMountain Rescue Aspen Inc: $1,175 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGOLD COAST NEIGHBORS ASSOCIATION: $1,045 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARTHRITIS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOLTI FOUNDATION US CO Fiona Queen: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMINT THEATER COMPANY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetASPEN FILM: $600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSTART EARLY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKATONAH MUSEUM OF ART: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Humanities Festival: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLeadership Institute: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO'S GREEN CITY MARKET PROGRAM: $500 over 3y, 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.

  • Who funds Metropolitan Family Services ↗
  • Who funds NUMBERSUSA EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗
  • Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Architecture Foundation ↗
  • Who funds MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Center for Immigration Studies Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Foundation for Education ↗
  • Who funds ASPEN SCIENCE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Victory Gardens Theater ↗
  • Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds OPENLANDS ↗
  • Who funds THE BUDDY PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds 626 LANDMARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE PARKS ↗
  • Who funds NORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds VASSAR COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Rush University Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds Writers Theatre Inc ↗
  • Who funds FREE SPIRIT MEDIA NFP ↗

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…John D and Catherine …Richard and Mary L Gr…Jewish Federation of …The Robert Thomas Bob…Dr Scholl FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …Motorola Solutions Fo…Patrick G and Shirley…The Pritzker Pucker F…Fifth Third Chicagola…Lloyd a Fry Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL28× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from C Gary and Virginia Gerst Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 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.

    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 105 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on C Gary and Virginia Gerst’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