Illinois · Private foundation
Cless 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.
- $3.1M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 24
- Grants FY2025
- 25
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 12%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $30,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $1,164,605
- Organizations funded a year
- 25 to 36
- FY2020 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 6
- Total assets, FY2025
- $19M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 12% of the organizations Cless Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 2% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $48k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 23 | $1.9M | 22% |
| FY2024 | 25 | $2.1M | 12% |
| FY2023 | 29 | $3.1M | 24% |
| FY2022 | 26 | $4.9M | 12% |
| FY2021 | 36 | $2.9M | 31% |
| FY2020 | 32 | $2.4M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endeavor Health Clinical Operations | $6,705,961 | 6 | 0% |
| Brain Tumor Research Charity | $885,563 | 2 | 96% |
| Duke University | $800,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Stand Up to Cancer | $752,292 | 2 | 1% |
| Evanstonskokie District 65 Educational Foundation (Foundation 65) | $480,000 | 6 | 40% |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | $475,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Youth & Opportunity United Inc | $400,000 | 6 | 3% |
| Evanston Scholars | $325,000 | 4 | 15% |
| The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired | $300,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Northlight Theatre Inc | $295,000 | 4 | 3% |
Show all 38 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 23 recipients with no EIN on record ($3.6M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Cless Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 6 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 34 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Evanston Community Foundation · The Kellcie Fund · The Chicago Community Trust · Finnegan Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Northwestern University · Elizabeth Beidler Tisdahl Foundation · Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Francis Beidler Foundation · Frankel Family Foundation · Magnetar Capital Foundation
How this is measured
About Cless Family Foundation
- How much does Cless Family Foundation give?
- Cless Family Foundation reported 24 grants totaling $3,108,605 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 25 and 36 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
- What does Cless Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (50%), Education (25%), Philanthropy (8%).
- Who are Cless Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Endeavor Health Clinical Operations ($6.7M), Brain Tumor Research Charity ($886k), Duke University ($800k).
- Does Cless Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 12% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Cless Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Cless Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Evanston Community Foundation, The Kellcie Fund, The Chicago Community Trust.
- Where is Cless Family Foundation based?
- Cless Family Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Cless Family’s filings →