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Chicago Bulls Charities

Chicago Bulls charities is committed to community violence prevention through four focus areas; education, investment, health & wellness, and access to opportunities.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$267k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Philanthropy$2.9MEducation$1.4MHealth$1.2MYouth Development$862kCommunity Improvement$835kRecreation & Sports$680kFood & Nutrition$315kCrime & Legal$233kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 14 grants below total $1,197,406 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,288,941 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $91,535 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k9 grants · $158k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $523k
  • $250k+2 grants · $517k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$4.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
McCormick Foundation$266,667
After School Matters$250,000
Operation Hope$242,761
Chicago Sports Alliance (McCormick Foundation)$200,000
Beyond the Ball$80,000
Rose Growing Home$37,978
Civic Committee Commerical$25,000
Pilgrim Development Corporation$15,000
Dion's Dream$15,000
Chicago Leadership Fellowship$15,000
Ann & Robert HLurie Children's Hospital$15,000
Bright Star Community Outreach$15,000
Chicago Blackhawks Foundation$10,000
Noble Network$10,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $90k) 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 your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Center on Halsted: $10k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $20k → 14%The Bloc Chicago - MLK Honoree: $10k → 14%A Better Chicago: $50k → 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.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 6% of Chicago Bulls Charities’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

Chicago Bulls Charitieslessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

36%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.1M · 19 repeat orgs$3.7M to everyone else

19 repeat relationships — 5 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
36

Total granted

$2.1M
$3.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-1%
+2%

Still filing today

84%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 30% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $653k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementHealthHuman ServicesOther

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

  • GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
    7× · 2017–2024 · $290k · revenue +140%
  • BS
    BRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP
    8× · 2018–2025 · $212k · revenue +4%
  • MF
    Marwen Foundation Inc
    2× · 2019–2020 · $110k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • CF
    CHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $1.0M · revenue +52%
  • SI
    SPECTRIOS INSTITUTE FOR LOW VISION
    one grant, 2022 · $972k · revenue -45% · 46% of their budget
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO
    2× · 2021–2023 · $250k · revenue +2%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your 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
Students Run Chicago
Health
2
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
3
Chicago Votes

Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government,…

Civil Rights
4
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
5
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
6
Thrive Chicago Nfp

Thrive chicago's mission is to prepare chicago's youth for a vibrant future by aligning efforts and outcomes from cradle to career.

Human Services
7
Junior Achievement of Chicago

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

International
8
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
9
Chicago United

To achieve parity in economic opportunity for people of color by advancing multiracial leadership in corporate governance, expanding the talent pipline for executive-level management, and growing minority businesses.

Philanthropy
10
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

The chicagoland chamber of commerce combines the power of people, with our legacy of leadership and business advocacy, to drive a dynamic economy. we focus on delivering value for our members, making chicagoland a world-class place to live…

—
11
Chicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for

Providing academic support to children experiencing homelessness in Chicago and providing resources and services to families experiencing homelessness in Chicago.

Education
12
Chicago Children's Museum

Chicago childrens museum is a place where families and caregivers with infants and children are encouraged to create, explore, and discover together through play. the museum features three vibrant floors of exhibits and activities that…

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is After School Matters Inc and the most unlike its peers is Breathe Move Rest Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%2%<5yr14%9%5–10yr18%23%10–20yr17%25%20–35yr15%25%35–55yr16%17%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%1%<5yr14%2%5–10yr18%6%10–20yr17%22%20–35yr15%61%35–55yr16%9%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 9% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
9%
6/64
the rest of the field
16%
4,995/31,446

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

05the grantee network

57 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. 57 of the 64 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
55/57
Grantees still filing
28/57
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION — $3,121,022 · PhilanthropyROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION+1 more — $20,000 · PhilanthropySPECTRIOS INSTITUTE FOR LOW VISION — $971,980 · OtherSPECTRIOS INSTITUTE FOR LOW V…Chicago Sports Alliance (McCormick Foundation) — $400,000 · OtherChicago Sports Alliance (McCo…OPERATION HOPE INC — $242,761 · OtherOPERATION HOPE INCBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $100,000 · Other+29 more — $641,878 · Other+29 moreCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $1,000,000 · EducationCHILDREN FIRST FUND …AFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC — $250,000 · EducationAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS…University of Chicago — $232,866 · EducationUniversity of Chicag…+5 more — $110,000 · Education+5 morePUSH FOR EXCELLENCE INC — $500,000 · Community ImprovementHUGS NO SLUGS INC — $75,000 · Community ImprovementMAAFA Redemption Project — $40,000 · Community ImprovementCHICAGO CARES INC — $30,000 · Community Improvement+1 more — $10,000 · Community ImprovementBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $250,000 · Youth DevelopmentBRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP — $212,000 · Youth DevelopmentBEYOND THE BALL NFP — $80,000 · Youth DevelopmentCHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS — $30,000 · Youth Development+3 more — $45,000 · Youth DevelopmentGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $290,000 · Food & NutritionDIONS CHICAGO DREAM INC NFP — $25,000 · Food & NutritionMarwen Foundation Inc — $110,000 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $50,000 · Arts & CultureSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC — $30,000 · Arts & CultureHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC — $25,000 · Arts & CultureINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO — $20,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM — $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $6,000 · Arts & Culture
Philanthropy$3,141,022Other$2,356,619Education$1,592,866Community Improvement$655,000Youth Development$617,000Food & Nutrition$315,000Arts & Culture$251,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION — $3,121,022 over 9y, 1.1% of budgetCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION — $1,000,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetSPECTRIOS INSTITUTE FOR LOW VISION — $971,980 over 1y, 46% of budgetPUSH FOR EXCELLENCE INC — $500,000 over 5y, 5.9% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $290,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $250,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC — $250,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetOPERATION HOPE INC — $242,761 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUniversity of Chicago — $232,866 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP — $212,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetMarwen Foundation Inc — $110,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO — $100,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetBEYOND THE BALL NFP — $80,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetGILDA'S CLUB CHICAGO — $60,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE — $60,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetA Better Chicago — $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGROWING HOME INC — $47,978 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCHAMPS MALE MENTORING PROGRAM - CHIRISE — $40,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetMAAFA Redemption Project — $40,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC — $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJESSE WHITE FOUNDATION LTD — $30,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetCHICAGO CARES INC — $30,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOIS — $30,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCHICAGO MOBILE MAKERS — $30,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetI Grow Chicago NFP — $30,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDON'T EVER GIVE UP INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO — $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNAMI Chicago — $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetDIONS CHICAGO DREAM INC NFP — $25,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO — $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBRIGHT PINK NFP — $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetChicago Blackhawks Foundation — $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRole Model Movement Inc (NFP) — $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLAWNDALE CHRISTIAN HEALTH CENTER — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEADERSHIP GREATER CHICAGO — $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetIMENTOR INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBreathe Move Rest Inc — $13,500 over 1y, 34% of budgetThe Simple Good — $12,500 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetCommunity Health NFP — $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Cara Program — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHoward Brown Health Center — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BLOC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

The Chicago Community…Robert R McCormick Fo…John D and Catherine …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Circle of Service Fou…United Way of Metropo…Jewish Federation of …Lloyd a Fry FoundationImc Chicago Charitabl…Polk Bros Foundation …Vivo FoundationFulk Family Foundatio…
The Chicago Community TrustIL40.4× affinity29 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Robert R McCormick Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Circle of Service Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Vivo Foundation · Fulk Family Foundation Inc

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 Chicago Bulls Charities 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
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    21report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Chicago Bulls Charities?

    Find your warmest path to Chicago Bulls Charities 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 64 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

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    By state
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