Skip to content
Chicago Chesed Fund at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Chicago Chesed Fund

To raise and distribute funds, goods, food, and assistance to the poverty-stricken in the jewish community.

$7.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
22
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$25k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$506kInternational$172kReligion$99kPhilanthropy$7kHuman Services$3k
02FY2024 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 22 grants below total $244,937, the rows itemized in this filing. The $7,362,897 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $7,117,960 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k10 grants · $73k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $172k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ORTHODOX UNION$25,000
NEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INC$24,000
JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV$21,700
FRIENDS OF MEOHR BAIS YAAKOV$14,025
BAIS YAAKOV HIGH SCHOOL$13,000
YOTZER OHR$12,000
TELSHE YESHIVA CLEVELAND$11,500
MACHON BNOS YEHUDAH$10,500
SHALOM MONTESSORI SCHOOL LLC$10,490
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TIFERET CENTER$10,000
YESHIVAT AISH HATORAH$10,000
YESHIVA MILL BASIN CONG SHAAR HATALMUD$10,000
BELLEVUE UNIVERSITY$9,380
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY$8,513
PLAYTHINKS$8,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BELLEVUE UNIVERSITY: $9k → 6%NELNET FOUNDATION: $7k → 13%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TIFERET CENTER: $10k → 6%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION: $14k → 13%YESHIVA MEOR HATORAH: $10k → 14%TOURO COLLEGE: $8k → 17%YESHIVA MILL BASIN CONG SHAAR HATALMUD: $10k → 20%YOTZER OHR: $12k → 15%YESHIVAS NER YISRAEL: $12k → 12%MISSOURI TORAH INSTITUTE: $7k → 11%TELSHE YESHIVA CLEVELAND: $12k → 9%JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV: $32k → 14%MACHON MAAYAN: $8k → 11%NEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INC: $24k → 11%YESHIVAT AISH HATORAH: $10k → 12%YESHIVAS NER YISRAEL: $12k → 11%ORTHODOX UNION: $25k → 17%YESHIVA GEDOLAH OF MILL BASIN: $7k → 20%SHALOM MONTESSORI SCHOOL LLC: $10k → 15%TELSHE YESHIVA CLEVELAND: $7k → 9%JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV: $26k → 14%FRIENDS OF MEOHR BAIS YAAKOV: $14k → 11%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $9k → 17%YACHAD LEARNING AND TOURS: $18k → 20%JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV: $22k → 14%LAKEWOOD CHEDER: $10k → 11%NCSY: $15k → 17%TEHILAS USA: $8k → 20%JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV: $22k → 14%BNOS YEHUDITH INC: $9k → 11%NCSY: $13k → 17%MACHON BNOS YEHUDAH: $11k → 20%JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV: $20k → 14%BAIS KAILA: $8k → 11%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOT TORAH INSTITUTE: $8k → 20%YESHIVA MEOR HATORAH: $14k → 14%YESHIVA NISHMAS CHAIM: $7k → 11%BAIS YAAKOV HIGH SCHOOL: $13k → 14%YESHIVA MEOR HATORAH: $11k → 14%BAIS YAAKOV HIGH SCHOOL: $10k → 14%HANNAH SACHS BAIS YAKOV: $10k → 14%YESHIVA KESSER YONAH: $8k → 14%BAIS YAAKOV HIGH SCHOOL: $7k → 14%YESHIVA KESSER YONAH: $7k → 14%HEBREW THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE: $21k → 14%HEBREW THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE: $11k → 14%ARIE CROWN HEBREW DAY SCHOOL: $25k → 14%PLAYTHINKS: $9k → 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

ND
IL
NY
OH
NJ
NE
MO
MD
FL
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.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$528k · 15 repeat orgs$259k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +156% since the first grant, against +52% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
24

Total granted

$528k
$129k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+156%
+52%

Still filing today

47%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $129k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’24
EducationReligionInternationalHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BY
    Bais Yaakov High School of Chicago
    7× · 2017–2024 · $43k · revenue +70%
  • YK
    YESHIVAS KESSER YONAH
    6× · 2017–2024 · $40k · revenue +330%
  • RC
    RABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TELSHE INC
    5× · 2019–2024 · $33k · revenue +117%

Funded once

  • AC
    ARIE CROWN HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
    one grant, 2021 · $25k
  • YL
    YACHAD LEARNING AND TOURS
    one grant, 2019 · $18k
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION
    one grant, 2017 · $14k · revenue +4%
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
Yeshiva Ohr Yisroel
Philanthropy
2
Zohar Hatorah Inc

Religious School

Religion
3
American Friends of Yeshiva Aish Hatorah
—
4
American Friends of Amshinover Yeshiva Jerusalem Inc

Support of religious schools in Israel

International
5
Yeshiva Toras Chaim of Greater Miami Inc

To operate a religious school for high school and post high school students.

Education
6
Torah Temimah Jerusalem

The school trains advanced talmudic scholars, enabling them to become high level teachers and religious leaders in israel and the united states using specific methodology combining traditional talmudic study with innovative learning…

Education
7
Yeshiva Keren Hatorah of Passaic- Clifton

To operate a high school offering religious instruction and general studies as well as a post high school program of talmudic studies. the school shall be run under the standards of orthodox jewish law and tradition.

Education
8
Bais Medrash Mayan Hatorah

To provide religious education and services to our students in the tradition of the orthodox jewish faith

—
9
Yeshiva Bais Mordechai of Teaneck

To provide religious Jewish education.

Education
10
Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael of Atlanta Inc

Inspire and assist each student in his quest to nurture a personal relationship with hashem, develop and refine his character, immerse himself in serious torah scholarship and attain the knowledge and skills necessary to be an articulate…

Education
11
Yeshiva of Los Angeles Girls High School

To provide academic excellence in both limudei kodesh and secular studies.

—
12
Stein Yeshiva of Lincoln Park

School for providing jewish education

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Friends of Bnot Torah Institute; the most unlike its peers is Nelnet Foundation. 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

28 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. 28 of the 51 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/28
Grantees still filing
25/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-YESHIVAS TIFERES TZVI INC: $133,770 · OtherJOAN DACHS BAIS YAAKOV ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-YESHIVAS TIFERES TZVI INCUNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA: $63,270 · OtherUNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICAHEBREW THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE: $63,083 · OtherHEBREW THEOLOGICAL COLLEGERABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TELSHE INC: $32,500 · OtherRABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TELSHE INCARIE CROWN HEBREW DAY SCHOOL: $25,000 · OtherNER ISRAEL RABBINICAL COLLEGE INC: $24,000 · OtherYACHAD LEARNING AND TOURS: $18,300 · OtherCongregation Shaar Hatalmud: $17,400 · Other+18 more: $106,189 · Other+18 moreYESHIVAS KESSER YONAH: $39,700 · EducationYESHIVAS KESSER YONAHMISSOURI TORAH INSTITUTE: $31,250 · EducationMISSOURI TORAH INSTITU…NEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INC: $24,000 · EducationNEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INCYOTZER OHR INC: $12,000 · EducationYOTZER OHR INCYESHIVAT AISH HATORAH: $10,000 · EducationYESHIVAT AISH HATORAHLAKEWOOD CHEDER SCHOOL INC: $10,000 · EducationLAKEWOOD CHEDER SCHOOL…Bellevue University: $9,380 · EducationBellevue UniversityYESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $8,513 · EducationYESHIVA UNIVERSITYTOURO UNIVERSITY: $8,360 · EducationTOURO UNIVERSITY+3 more: $3,000 · EducationBais Yaakov High School of Chicago: $43,188 · ReligionBais Yaakov H…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TIFERET CENTER: $19,000 · ReligionAMERICAN FRIE…FRIENDS OF MEOHR BAIS YAAKOV INC: $14,025 · ReligionFRIENDS OF ME…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION: $13,600 · ReligionAMERICAN FRIE…GATES OF ZION INC: $6,000 · ReligionGATES OF ZION…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOT TORAH INSTITUTE: $14,000 · InternationalMACHON MAAYAN INC: $13,500 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOS YEHUDIS IN: $10,500 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BETH JACOB TEACHERS INSTITUTE OF JERUSALEM: $2,000 · InternationalNelnet Foundation: $7,364 · PhilanthropyJewish Child and Family Services: $1,750 · Human ServicesAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BE'ER HATORAHINC: $1,000 · Human ServicesCHESED OF LAKEWOOD INC: $600 · Health
Other$483,512Education$156,203Religion$95,813International$40,000Philanthropy$7,364Human Services$2,750Health$600

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10k$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBais Yaakov High School of Chicago: $43,188 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetYESHIVAS KESSER YONAH: $39,700 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetRABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TELSHE INC: $32,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMISSOURI TORAH INSTITUTE: $31,250 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetNEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INC: $24,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF TIFERET CENTER: $19,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF MEOHR BAIS YAAKOV INC: $14,025 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOT TORAH INSTITUTE: $14,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION: $13,600 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMACHON MAAYAN INC: $13,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetYOTZER OHR INC: $12,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOS YEHUDIS IN: $10,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetYESHIVAT AISH HATORAH: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLAKEWOOD CHEDER SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBellevue University: $9,380 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $8,513 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYTHINKS: $8,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTOURO UNIVERSITY: $8,360 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBAIS KAILA TORAH PREPARATORY HS: $8,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNelnet Foundation: $7,364 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGATES OF ZION INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BETH JACOB TEACHERS INSTITUTE OF JERUSALEM: $2,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetJEWISH EDUCATION FOR GIRLS INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJewish Child and Family Services: $1,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF BE'ER HATORAHINC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHESED OF LAKEWOOD INC: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Friends of Yeshiva Gedolah Matisyahu Inc: $500 over 1y, 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 Bais Yaakov High School of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds YESHIVAS KESSER YONAH ↗
  • Who funds RABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TELSHE INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSOURI TORAH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds NEIMAS BAIS YAAKOV INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TIFERET CENTER ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF MEOHR BAIS YAAKOV INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOT TORAH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NEVEH ZION ↗
  • Who funds MACHON MAAYAN INC ↗
  • Who funds YOTZER OHR INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF BNOS YEHUDIS IN ↗
  • Who funds YESHIVAT AISH HATORAH ↗
  • Who funds LAKEWOOD CHEDER SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds Bellevue University ↗
  • Who funds YESHIVA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds PLAYTHINKS ↗
  • Who funds TOURO UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BAIS KAILA TORAH PREPARATORY HS ↗
  • Who funds Nelnet Foundation ↗
  • Who funds GATES OF ZION INC ↗

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 Ojc FundJewish Communal FundTodd a and Raphaela S…Kehillah Jewish Educa…Jewish Federation of …Center for Jewish Edu…Cambridge Charitable …Jewish Community Foun…Lakewood Cheder Schoo…Jack Adjmi Family Fou…Bitton Family Foundat…Aj & Sl Stern Family …
The Ojc FundNY31.3× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ojc Fund · Jewish Communal Fund · Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family Foundation · Kehillah Jewish Education Fund · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Center for Jewish Education Inc · Cambridge Charitable Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Lakewood Cheder School Inc · Jack Adjmi Family Foundation Inc · Bitton Family Foundation Inc · Aj & Sl Stern Family 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 Chicago Chesed Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Chicago Chesed Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 100%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Jewish Education for Girls Inc: 6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
10get no government money at all
7report 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 Chicago Chesed Fund?

Find your warmest path to Chicago Chesed Fund 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 51 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 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 Chicago Chesed’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