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Cless Family Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Health$8.4MEducation$4.2MPhilanthropy$1.3MYouth Development$1.2MHuman Services$450kArts & Culture$285kHousing & Shelter$200kScience & Tech$150kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $232k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $300k
  • $250k+4 grants · $2.6M
$30,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SCHWAB CHARITABLE$1,164,605
NORTHSHORE HOSPITALS FOUNDATION$825,000
GLENVIEW YOUTH SERVICES$300,000
THE BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY$275,000
FOUNDATION 65$50,000
THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE$50,000
BOOKS & BREAKFAST$50,000
CHICAGO ENGINEER'S FOUNDATION$50,000
MATTHIAS ACADEMY CORPORATION$50,000
PROVENANCE PRECISION MEDICINE FOUNDATION$50,000
MORAN CENTER FOR YOUTH FOUNDATION$35,000
WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION$30,000
YOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED$25,000
NORTHLIGHT THEATRE$25,000
CHILDCARE NETWORK OF EVANSTON$25,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $685k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $50k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $25k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $25k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $25k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $25k → 14%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO CORP: $50 → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $50k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $90k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $35k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $30k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $25k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $20k → 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

ID
IL
IN
CA
MD
TN
NC
TX
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$17M · 42 repeat orgs$900k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

42 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

42
14

Total granted

$17M
$558k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
0%

Still filing today

67%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $342k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyFood & NutritionArts & CultureOther
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

  • EH
    Endeavor Health Clinical Operations
    6× · 2020–2025 · $6.7M · revenue +25%
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2021–2024 · $800k · revenue +1%
  • ES
    EVANSTON SCHOLARS
    4× · 2020–2023 · $325k · revenue +85%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $175k
  • NF
    NSSRA FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -15%
  • GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
    one grant, 2020 · $75k · revenue +17%
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
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
2
Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare Group

The elmhurst memorial healthcare group follows the mission of endeavor health (f/k/a ns-ee holdings). the mission of endeavor health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." central to this mission is a commitment to…

—
3
Edward Hospital

Edward Hospital follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
4
The Richard H Driehaus Foundation
Philanthropy
5
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
6
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
7
Gastro Intestinal Research Foundation Inc

The GI Research Foundation works to treat, prevent, and cure digestive diseases. In collaboration with the physicians and scientists at the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Center, we fund innovative clinical and laboratory…

Health
8
Naperville Psychiatric Ventures

Naperville psychiatric ventures follows the mission of endeavor health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
9
Evans Scholars Foundation - Northern Illinois

Educational

Education
10
Edward Foundation

Edward foundation follows the mission of endeavor health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

—
11
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
12
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connections for the Homeless Inc; the most unlike its peers is Sara Schottenstein 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

38 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 38 of the 63 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
37/38
Grantees still filing
22/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Endeavor Health Clinical Operations: $6,705,961 · HealthEndeavor Health Clinical OperationsBRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY: $885,563 · HealthBRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY+1 more: $125,000 · HealthGLENVIEW YOUTH SERVICES: $1,075,000 · OtherGLENVIEW YOUTH SERVICESETHS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $1,020,000 · OtherETHS EDUCATION FOUNDATIONTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $475,000 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE U…YOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED INC: $400,000 · OtherYOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED INCStuttering Foundation of America: $275,000 · OtherTHE BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY: $275,000 · OtherSTUPID STRONG CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $250,000 · OtherCHICAGO ENGINEER'S FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherLINCOLN PARK PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $190,000 · Other+30 more: $1,273,031 · Other+30 moreDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $2,385,894 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITA…STAND UP TO CANCER: $752,292 · PhilanthropySTAND UP TO CANCEREVANSTONSKOKIE DISTRICT 65 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (FOUNDATION 65): $480,000 · PhilanthropyEVANSTONSKOKIE DISTRI…+2 more: $185,000 · PhilanthropyDUKE UNIVERSITY: $800,000 · EducationDUKE UNIV…EVANSTON SCHOLARS: $325,000 · EducationEVANSTON …BOOKS AND BREAKFAST: $275,000 · EducationBOOKS AND…DEBRA GELFAND CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $140,000 · EducationDEBRA GEL…THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $80,000 · Education+3 more: $63,000 · EducationTHE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: $300,000 · Human ServicesYoung Mens Christian Assoc McGaw Inc: $200,000 · Human ServicesHonor Flight Chicago Corp: $150,000 · Human ServicesMATTHIAS ACADEMY CORPORATION: $50,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $35,000 · Human ServicesNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $295,000 · Arts & CultureEVANSTON ART CENTER: $15,000 · Arts & CultureCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $200,000 · Housing & Shelter
Health$7,716,524Other$5,433,031Philanthropy$3,803,186Education$1,683,000Human Services$735,000Arts & Culture$310,000Housing & Shelter$200,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $6,705,961 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $2,385,894 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY: $885,563 over 2y, 96% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $800,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSTAND UP TO CANCER: $752,292 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetEVANSTONSKOKIE DISTRICT 65 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (FOUNDATION 65): $480,000 over 6y, 40% of budgetYOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED INC: $400,000 over 6y, 3.5% of budgetEVANSTON SCHOLARS: $325,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetTHE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: $300,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $295,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetStuttering Foundation of America: $275,000 over 5y, 4.7% of budgetBOOKS AND BREAKFAST: $275,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Assoc McGaw Inc: $200,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetRose-Hulman Institute of Technology: $165,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHonor Flight Chicago Corp: $150,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetDEBRA GELFAND CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $140,000 over 4y, 47% of budgetProvenance Precision Medicine Foundation: $125,000 over 3y, 66% of budgetGlenbrook High School Foundation: $100,000 over 2y, 69% of budgetNSSRA FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetChildcare Network of Evanston: $90,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetEvanston Community Foundation: $85,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $80,000 over 3y, 22% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGlenview Education Foundation: $60,000 over 1y, 57% of budgetMATTHIAS ACADEMY CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF LINCOLN PARK HIGH SCHOOL: $42,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetEVANSTON REBUILDING WAREHOUSE: $35,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetMISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJAMES B MORAN CENTER FOR YOUTH ADVOCACY: $30,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetWARREN W CHERRY PRESCHOOL: $25,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetIDAHO HORSE THERAPY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetEVANSTON ART CENTER: $15,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE RECYCLERY COLLECTIVE: $7,500 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetSARA SCHOTTENSTEIN FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $1,000 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 Endeavor Health Clinical Operations ↗
  • Who funds DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH CHARITY ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds STAND UP TO CANCER ↗
  • Who funds EVANSTONSKOKIE DISTRICT 65 EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (FOUNDATION 65) ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED INC ↗
  • Who funds EVANSTON SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED ↗
  • Who funds NORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds Stuttering Foundation of America ↗
  • Who funds BOOKS AND BREAKFAST ↗
  • Who funds Young Mens Christian Assoc McGaw Inc ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC ↗
  • Who funds Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology ↗
  • Who funds Honor Flight Chicago Corp ↗
  • Who funds DEBRA GELFAND CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Provenance Precision Medicine Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Glenbrook High School Foundation ↗
  • Who funds NSSRA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Childcare Network of Evanston ↗
  • Who funds Evanston Community Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE WINNETKA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds Glenview Education Foundation ↗
  • Who funds MATTHIAS ACADEMY CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF LINCOLN PARK HIGH SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds EVANSTON REBUILDING WAREHOUSE ↗

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.

Evanston Community Fo…The Kellcie FundThe Chicago Community…Finnegan Family Found…John D and Catherine …Northwestern Universi…Elizabeth Beidler Tis…Lewis-Sebring Family …AbbVie FoundationFrancis Beidler Found…Frankel Family Founda…Magnetar Capital Foun…
Evanston Community FoundationIL30.4× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 Cless Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cless Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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.

    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 63 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cless Family’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