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Craig and Donna Bernfield Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Craig and Donna Bernfield Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$5k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Recreation & Sports$538kInternational$475kYouth Development$363kHousing & Shelter$250kEducation$200kPhilanthropy$155kFood & Nutrition$23kHuman Services$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$385k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BRUCE C ABRAMS FOUNDATION$5,000
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 (FY19–22, $373k) 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 its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%GOODFOUNDATION: $10k → 17%A BETTER CHICAGO: $325k → 14%A BETTER CHICAGO: $38k → 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.
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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.4M · 7 repeat orgs$537k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +57% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
5

Total granted

$1.4M
$537k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+57%
+17%

Still filing today

71%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesInternationalEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • AB
    A Better Chicago
    2× · 2020–2022 · $363k · revenue +76%
  • CC
    Chicago Cubs Charities
    2× · 2020–2021 · $288k · revenue +142%
  • University of Chicago
    4× · 2019–2022 · $200k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • KD
    KEVIN DURANT CHARITY
    one grant, 2020 · $250k
  • COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC
    one grant, 2020 · $250k · revenue +17%
  • SHARE OUR STRENGTH
    one grant, 2020 · $23k · revenue -44%
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
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Federation amplifies our collective strength to make the world a better place for everyone. we assist people in need, impact chicagoans of all faiths; support israel and the jewish people worldwide; respond swiftly to crises; cultivate…

Philanthropy
2
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
3
Northern Illinois University Foundation

The niu foundation's mission is to energize and connect the private sector with the niu community to secure and steward resources that support the future and growth of niu.

Education
4
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
5
Loyola University of Chicago

We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.

Education
6
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
7
The Chicago Scholars Foundation

Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.

Education
8
Students Run Chicago
Health
9
The Chicago Community Trust

Building on 100 years of commitment to the Chicago region, The Chicago Community Trust mobilizes people, ideas, organizations and resources to advance opportunity for all Chicagoans.

Philanthropy
10
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

Jcrc-ny builds relationships to advance the values, interests and security of the new york jewish community and to create a more interconnected new york for all.

Civil Rights
11
American Jewish Committee

AJC's mission is to enhance the wellbeing of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. In pursuit of this mission, AJC advances democratic principles, fights…

Civil Rights
12
Junior Achievement of Chicago

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

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Entertainment Industry Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. 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

9 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. 9 of the 13 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Chicago Cubs Charities: $287,500 · OtherChicago Cubs CharitiesKEVIN DURANT CHARITY: $250,000 · OtherKEVIN DURANT CHARITYCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $250,000 · OtherCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INCFRIENDS OF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $175,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCESBRUCE C ABRAMS FOUNDATION: $35,000 · Other+2 more: $26,600 · OtherA Better Chicago: $362,500 · Human ServicesA Better Chicago+1 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $300,000 · InternationalAMERICAN ISRAEL …University of Chicago: $200,000 · EducationUniversity …ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION: $100,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $20,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,024,100Human Services$372,500International$300,000Education$200,000Philanthropy$120,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetA Better Chicago: $362,500 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $300,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Cubs Charities: $287,500 over 2y, 11% of budgetCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $250,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $200,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $23,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD PLUS FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Craig and Donna Bernfield Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Craig and Donna Bernfield Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 13 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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