· Private foundation
Chicago Freedom Trust
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 it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MUSTARD SEED COMMUNITIES | $4,000 |
| WORLD ORPHAN FUND | $2,000 |
| WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM | $2,000 |
| MEALS ON WHEELS OF CONTRA COSTA | $2,000 |
| CENTER FOR URBAN TEACHING | $2,000 |
| INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE | $2,000 |
| CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATORS OF MIDLAND | $2,000 |
| CHRISTIAN HOME EDUCATORS OF MIDLAND | $2,000 |
| CHICAGO HOPE ACADEMY | $2,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $22k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 27% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 10% of Chicago Freedom Trust’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 10% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 20%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down.
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 FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MSMUSTARD SEED COMMUNITIES INC7× · 2017–2024 · $25k · revenue +91%
The World Orphan Fund Inc8× · 2017–2024 · $16k · revenue +766%- MOMEALS ON WHEELS CONTRA COSTA INC8× · 2017–2024 · $16k · revenue +84%
Funded once
- SASTEPPING AHEAD LTDone grant, 2017 · $2k
- LCLIFECLINIC COMMUNITY RESOURCESgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue +371%
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.
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.
Food & water watch conducts extensive research and public education to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. so we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of…
Food service for the poor, economically disadvantaged, and elderly.
Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.
Educate and train midwives to provide safe, professional, affordable and personal maternity and general health care.
The world molecular imaging society (wmis) is an international scientific educational organization dedicated to the understanding of biology and medicine through multimodal in vivo imaging of cellular and molecular events involved in…
Empowering people with disabilities by providing services that promote independence, equality and intergration, enhancing their quality of life.
We Dont Waste increases food access and protects the planet by rescuing and repurposing food, while educating and advocating to increase food security and decrease food waste.
The minnesota land trust protects and restores minnesota's most vital natural lands in order to provide wildlife habitat, clean water, outdoor experiences and scenic beauty for generations to come.
To promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning through: 1. development of research-supported, best (continued on schedule o) practice-based quality standards and appropriate evaluation tools and procedures. 2.…
Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.
Through christian love and excellence, we are dedicated to providing a fulfilling lifestyle and promoting independence to those we serve
The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits informs, promotes, connects and strengthens individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector.
How this is measured
10 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. 10 of the 16 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 MUSTARD SEED COMMUNITIES INC ↗
- Who funds The World Orphan Fund Inc ↗
- Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS CONTRA COSTA INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HOPE ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR URBAN TEACHING INC ↗
- Who funds Rescue Ministries of Mid-Michigan ↗
- Who funds GROWTHSKILLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER ↗
- Who funds LIFECLINIC COMMUNITY RESOURCES ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Chicago Freedom Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Chicago Freedom Trust. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Chicago Freedom Trust?
Find your warmest path to Chicago Freedom Trust 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.
Play a game based on Chicago Freedom’s filings →