· Private foundation
Chern Family 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.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2021–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k4 grants · $19k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $80k
- $50k–250k4 grants · $432k
- $250k+2 grants · $579k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| AUTISM SPEAKS | $327,670 |
| THIRD WAY INSTITUTE | $250,899 |
| A BETTER CHICAGO | $126,690 |
| AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION | $102,698 |
| NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $102,292 |
| FINCA INTERNATIONAL INC | $100,621 |
| CAMP OUT FOR KIDS | $25,000 |
| CHILDRENS HOSPITAL CHICAGO FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| EPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF GREATER CHICAGO | $15,000 |
| JEWISH UNITED FUND | $10,250 |
| AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM | $10,000 |
| ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND | $5,500 |
| THE GIVING BACK FUND | $5,113 |
| GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE CHICAGO | $5,000 |
| BETHEL UNITED MINISTRIES | $3,604 |
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.
Your human-services grants (FY21–25, $571k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +32% since the first grant, against -8% for the ones you funded once.
10 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $397k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- FIFINCA INTERNATIONAL INC3× · 2022–2025 · $299k · revenue +101%
- COCAMP OUT FOR KIDS4× · 2022–2025 · $100k · revenue +59%
- EFEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF GREATER CHICAGO4× · 2022–2025 · $55k · revenue +48%
Funded once
- CFCentral Fund of Israelone grant, 2024 · $25k · revenue -11%
- MAMERCAZ ACADEMYone grant, 2023 · $10k
- IHILLINOIS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUMone grant, 2023 · $10k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
Federation amplifies our collective strength to make the world a better place for everyone. we assist people in need, impact chicagoans of all faiths; support israel and the jewish people worldwide; respond swiftly to crises; cultivate…
AJC's mission is to enhance the wellbeing of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. In pursuit of this mission, AJC advances democratic principles, fights…
To support financial industry in prudently managing risks and to foster global financial stability.
To accelerate the development of breakthrough discoveries that will transform the lives of people living with food allergies.
The celiac disease foundation is the leading global patient advocacy organization committed to accelerating diagnosis, treatments, and a cure for celiac disease. our mission is to improve the health and well-being of the millions of…
To effectively communicate science based information on food safety, nutrition, and health for the public good.
The Impact Forum is an exclusive network of philanthropists. We are connecting philanthropists that support each others initiatives and collaborate to empower and meet with exceptional non-profit organizations to fight antisemitism,…
The aids foundation of chicago mobilizes communities to create equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to hiv and related chronic disease.
The american friends of beit issie shapiro (afobis) is a national not for profit fundraising organization with regional offices in new york city, north miami beach, fl and los angeles, ca. afobis is dedicated to supporting beit issie…
Our vision is to reignite the zionist spirit and meet the needs of jewish civilization in the twenty-first century by connecting people around the world through the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary israeli culture.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Israel Education Foundation Inc and the most unlike its peers is Camp Out for Kids. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 29 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds AUTISM SPEAKS INC ↗
- Who funds A Better Chicago ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds FINCA INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds THIRD WAY INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds CAMP OUT FOR KIDS ↗
- Who funds EPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF GREATER CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Central Fund of Israel ↗
- Who funds CAMP THUNDERBIRD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ASPIRITECH NFP ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM ↗
- Who funds University of Illinois Foundation ↗
- Who funds ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC ↗
- Who funds THE GIVING BACK FUND ↗
- Who funds ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds The Anti-Cruelty Society ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · AbbVie Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Chern Family 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.
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.