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Caerus Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Caerus Foundation Inc

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.

$15M
Granted FY2024still arriving
134
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

International$23MEducation$16MEnvironment$12MYouth Development$11MHousing & Shelter$7.0MAnimals$6.5MArts & Culture$6.4MHuman Services$2.7MOther$0
02FY2024 · 134 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k56 grants · $1.6M
  • $50k–250k57 grants · $6.0M
  • $250k+18 grants · $7.5M
$50,082
Median grant
11
States reached
$252M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The HALO Trust USA Inc$1,205,000
National Audubon Society$1,000,000
Doctors Without Borders USA Inc$600,000
NEO Philanthropy - State Infrastructure Fund$500,000
City Year Inc$425,000
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$400,000
The United States Energy Foundation$400,000
Ducks Unlimited$330,000
Global Strategies$300,000
Tutoring Chicago$300,000
Global Strategies$300,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago$250,000
Partners In Health$250,000
MAG America$250,000
One Million Degrees$250,000
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 (FY19–24, $8.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MAG America: $825k → 14%MAG America: $500k → 14%MAG America: $408k → 14%MAG America: $250k → 14%MAG America: $192k → 14%MAG America: $100k → 14%MAG AMERICA: $1.0M → 14%AIM HIGH: $25k → 10%MAG AMERICA: $966k → 14%AIM HIGH: $25k → 10%MAG AMERICA: $825k → 14%UP ON TOP: $40k → 10%Up On Top: $35k → 10%Up On Top: $35k → 10%UP ON TOP: $35k → 10%Up On Top: $35k → 10%UP ON TOP: $30k → 10%Youth Services of Glenview-Northbrook: $150k → 14%YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEWNORTHBROOK: $55k → 14%YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEWNORTHBROOK: $35k → 14%Youth Services of Glenview-Northbrook: $35k → 14%Youth Services of Glenview-Northbrook: $35k → 14%YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEW-NORTHBROOK: $35k → 14%Youth Services of Glenview-Northbrook: $35k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $200k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $192k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $192k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $160k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $150k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $150k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $150k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $150k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $59k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $45k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $44k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $44k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $44k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 14%Howard Area Community Center: $44k → 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

VT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
IA
CA
CO
VA
AR
TN
DC
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 9% of Caerus Foundation Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 40% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 37%.

Caerus Foundation Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 13% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$84M · 82 repeat orgs$3.5M to everyone else

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

82 repeat relationships: 59 still active in FY2024, 23 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

82
33

Total granted

$84M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+12%

Still filing today

87%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.5M went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalHealthOther
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

  • TH
    THE HALO TRUST (USA) INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $8.5M · revenue +207%
  • TR
    The Resurrection Project
    4× · 2019–2022 · $7.0M · revenue +213%
  • MAG AMERICA INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $5.1M · revenue +135%

Funded once

  • NP
    NAVY PIER INC
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue +20%
  • Mequon Nature Preserve Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $205k · revenue -37%
  • SI
    SAVANNA INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2023 · $175k · revenue -81%
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
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
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
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
4
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
5
Alternatives Inc

Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and…

Health
6
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
7
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
8
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.

—
9
Children's Museum of Oak Park

To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.

Arts & Culture
10
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
11
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
12
Goodwill Industries of Metropolitan Chicago Inc

Goodwill industries of metropolitan chicago, inc. ("goodwill-chicago") is a nonstock, not-for-profit illinois corporation, whose sole member is goodwill industries of southeastern wisconsin, inc. ("goodwill"), a wisconsin nonstock,…

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is After School Matters Inc; the most unlike its peers is Meals On Wheels. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

114 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. 114 of the 130 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
113/114
Grantees still filing
78/114
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY: $6,150,000 · OtherNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETYMISSION GRADUATES: $3,696,466 · OtherMISSION GRADUATESBUILD INC: $2,333,709 · OtherBUILD INCNational Fish and Wildlife Foundation: $2,000,000 · OtherNational Fish and Wildlife FoundationCITY YEAR INC: $1,775,000 · OtherBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,595,000 · OtherFIRST GRADUATE: $1,695,500 · Other+71 more: $17,847,924 · Other+71 moreTHE HALO TRUST (USA) INC: $8,520,876 · InternationalTHE HALO TRUST (…MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $3,700,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FR…+4 more: $811,000 · International+4 moreTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $2,433,132 · EducationTHE CHICAGO SC…ONE MILLION DEGREES: $1,950,000 · EducationONE MILLION DE…826 Valencia: $1,490,000 · Education826 ValenciaCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $1,259,500 · EducationCOLLEGE POSSIB…ROOM TO READ: $900,000 · EducationROOM TO READLAKELAND UNIVERSITY: $716,000 · EducationLAKELAND UNIVE…THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $500,000 · EducationChiArts Foundation: $455,000 · Education+8 more: $1,362,500 · Education+8 moreMAG AMERICA INC: $5,085,104 · Human ServicesMAG AMERIC…Howard Area Community Center: $2,123,198 · Human ServicesHoward Are…YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEWNORTHBROOK: $465,000 · Human ServicesYOUTH SERV…+8 more: $555,000 · Human Services+8 moreThe Resurrection Project: $7,015,000 · Housing & ShelterThe Resur…+1 more: $10,000 · Housing & ShelterTUTORING CHICAGO: $2,443,802 · Arts & CultureThe People's Music School: $1,528,000 · Arts & CultureMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $926,000 · Arts & CultureSkyArt NFP: $882,000 · Arts & CultureBLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CORPORATION: $425,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY PIER INC: $250,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $275,000 · Arts & CultureGlobal Strategies: $2,375,000 · HealthPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $2,200,629 · HealthGLOBAL HEALTH CORPS INC: $430,000 · Health+2 more: $35,000 · Health
Other$37,093,599International$13,031,876Education$11,066,132Human Services$8,228,302Housing & Shelter$7,025,000Arts & Culture$6,729,802Health$5,040,629

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 budgetTHE HALO TRUST (USA) INC: $8,520,876 over 6y, 7.7% of budgetThe Resurrection Project: $7,015,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetMAG AMERICA INC: $5,085,104 over 6y, 3.1% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $3,700,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMISSION GRADUATES: $3,696,466 over 6y, 9.1% of budgetTUTORING CHICAGO: $2,443,802 over 6y, 42% of budgetTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $2,433,132 over 6y, 26% of budgetGlobal Strategies: $2,375,000 over 5y, 52% of budgetBUILD INC: $2,333,709 over 6y, 12% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $2,200,629 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetHoward Area Community Center: $2,123,198 over 6y, 8.7% of budgetONE MILLION DEGREES: $1,950,000 over 6y, 10.0% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $1,775,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetFIRST GRADUATE: $1,695,500 over 6y, 24% of budgetBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,595,000 over 6y, 6.2% of budgetThe People's Music School: $1,528,000 over 6y, 15% of budget826 Valencia: $1,490,000 over 6y, 5.9% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $1,259,500 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $926,000 over 6y, 15% of budgetROOM TO READ: $900,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetSkyArt NFP: $882,000 over 6y, 25% of budgetTHE ENERGY FOUNDATION: $800,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLAKELAND UNIVERSITY: $716,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES: $690,000 over 4y, 8.9% of budgetNORTHWOODS LAND TRUST INC: $675,000 over 5y, 28% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $575,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES FOUNDATION OF: $530,000 over 5y, 5.5% of budgetCHICAGO LIGHTS: $510,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $500,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $500,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPAWS CHICAGO: $500,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetYOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEWNORTHBROOK: $465,000 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetJAMESTOWN COMMUNITY CENTER: $460,000 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetChiArts Foundation: $455,000 over 4y, 5.4% of budgetThe Anti-Cruelty Society: $445,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetGLOBAL HEALTH CORPS INC: $430,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetSOUTHERN WISCONSIN BIRD ALLIANCE INC: $430,000 over 6y, 4.5% of budgetChicago Jazz Philharmonic: $430,000 over 6y, 13% of budgetBLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CORPORATION: $425,000 over 6y, 5.9% of budgetFUND FOR LAKE MICHIGAN INC: $400,000 over 2y, 47% of budgetUNITED STATES ENERGY FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMETROSQUASH NFP: $366,000 over 6y, 2.8% of budgetStorycatchers: $352,000 over 5y, 6.0% of budgetSCHOLARMATCH INC: $350,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetGATHERING WATERS INC: $340,000 over 2y, 31% of budgetAlbany Park Theater Project: $325,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCAMFED USA FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 2y, 0.4% 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 THE HALO TRUST (USA) INC ↗
  • Who funds The Resurrection Project ↗
  • Who funds MAG AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSION GRADUATES ↗
  • Who funds TUTORING CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Global Strategies ↗
  • Who funds BUILD INC ↗
  • Who funds PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds Howard Area Community Center ↗
  • Who funds ONE MILLION DEGREES ↗
  • Who funds CITY YEAR INC ↗
  • Who funds FIRST GRADUATE ↗
  • Who funds BIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds The People's Music School ↗
  • Who funds 826 Valencia ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC ↗
  • Who funds MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds ROOM TO READ ↗
  • Who funds SkyArt NFP ↗
  • Who funds THE ENERGY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LAKELAND UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWOODS LAND TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES FOUNDATION OF ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO LIGHTS ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds PAWS CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH SERVICES OF GLENVIEWNORTHBROOK ↗
  • Who funds JAMESTOWN COMMUNITY CENTER ↗

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.

Arie and Ida Crown Me…Polk Bros Foundation …John D and Catherine …The Chicago Community…Circle of Service Fou…Dr Scholl FoundationField Foundation of I…Reva and David Logan …Lloyd a Fry FoundationGreater Milwaukee Fou…Windward FundUnited Way of Metropo…
Arie and Ida Crown MemorialIL45.9× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Reva and David Logan Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Windward Fund · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
40report 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 Caerus Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Caerus Foundation Inc 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 130 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 Caerus’ 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