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Cushing Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Cushing 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.

$8.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
56
Grants FY2025still arriving
12
States reached
$3.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

International$5.3MFood & Nutrition$1.7MReligion$712kHealth$629kHousing & Shelter$605kEnvironment$419kEducation$412kHuman Services$326kOther$0
02FY2025 · 56 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $275k
  • $50k–250k40 grants · $3.3M
  • $250k+3 grants · $4.5M
$50,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$164M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMREF HEALTH AFRICA IN THE USA$3,250,000
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$1,000,000
THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA$250,000
GLEN ELLYN FOOD PANTRY$200,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS$150,000
ONE ACRE FUND$100,000
SHINE GLOBAL INC$100,000
MISERICORDIA HOME$100,000
THE MORTON ARBORETUM$100,000
BLOOD CANCER UNITED$100,000
COLLEGE OF DUPAGE FOUNDATION$100,000
ST PETRONILLE CATHOLIC CHURCH$100,000
ST FRANCIS HIGH SCHOOL$100,000
PROXIMITY 2 HUMANITY$100,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$100,000
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 (FY17–25, $659k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 40% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PROXIMITY 2 HUMANITY: $100k → 13%MISERICORDIA HOME: $100k → 14%DUPAGE SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL (KANE SENIOR COUNCIL): $50k → 7%MISERICORDIA HOME: $25k → 14%MISERICORDIA HOME: $10k → 14%DUPAGE SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL (KANE SENIOR COUNCIL): $5k → 7%MARYVILLE ACADEMY: $25k → 14%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $58k → 7%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $50k → 7%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $25k → 7%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $25k → 7%ALMOST HOME KIDS: $1k → 14%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $15k → 7%HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $5k → 7%GLEN ELLYN CHILDREN'S RESOURCE CENT: $60k → 7%GLEN ELLYN CHILDREN'S RESOURCE CENT: $5k → 7%LOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES: $100k → 7%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

MN
IL
NY
MA
IA
PA
CA
VA
MD
TN
NC
DC
GA
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.0M · 37 repeat orgs$2.1M to everyone else

37 repeat relationships: 24 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 32 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
14

Total granted

$9.0M
$135k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+52%

Still filing today

78%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthInternationalFood & NutritionEnvironmentHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
    3× · 2022–2025 · $1.0M · revenue +34%
  • TS
    THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA
    5× · 2019–2025 · $607k · revenue +21%
  • TM
    THE MORTON ARBORETUM
    4× · 2022–2025 · $300k · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • B
    BLOODWATER
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • HI
    HCUND INC (HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE FOR UNITED NATIONS DELEGATIONS INC)
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
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
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
2
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
3
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
4
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

—
5
Partners in Food Solutions

Improve the food value chain in developing countries by mobilizing corporate volunteers to share knowledge and expertise with small and growing food processors.

International
6
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
7
Project Hope - the People-to-People Health Foundation Inc

To conduct and support programs and activities aimed at solving some of the world's greatest public health challenges, with a specific focus on enabling health workers to have the greatest possible impact on the health of the people they…

International
8
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
9
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
10
Waterorg

Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.

International
11
Public Health Institute

Public health institute generates and promotes research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices.

Health
12
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Action Against Hunger - Usa; the most unlike its peers is Chelonian Research 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

65 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. 65 of the 83 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)
64/65
Grantees still filing
41/65
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMREF HEALTH AFRICA IN THE USA: $3,648,000 · OtherAMREF HEALTH AFRICA IN THE USASHINE GLOBAL INC: $720,000 · OtherSHINE GLOBAL INCTHEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA: $607,000 · OtherTHEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA+39 more: $2,049,500 · Other+39 moreGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $1,040,000 · Food & NutritionGREATER CHIC…URBAN GROWERS COLLECTIVE INC: $100,000 · Food & NutritionURBAN GROWER…DIONS CHICAGO DREAM INC NFP: $50,000 · Food & Nutrition+2 more: $40,000 · Food & NutritionAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $185,000 · Human ServicesTHE HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $178,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA HOME: $135,000 · Human ServicesLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES: $100,000 · Human ServicesPROXIMITY 2 HUMANITY CORPORATION: $100,000 · Human ServicesGLEN ELLYN CHILDRENS RESOURCE CENTER: $65,000 · Human ServicesDUPAGE SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL: $55,000 · Human Services+3 more: $34,000 · Human ServicesBRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC: $300,000 · Housing & ShelterDUPAGE PADS INC: $200,000 · Housing & ShelterCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS: $90,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $105,000 · InternationalTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $100,000 · InternationalHELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL: $100,000 · InternationalONE ACRE FUND: $100,000 · InternationalSpark Ventures: $25,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $25,000 · InternationalAMIGOS OF COSTA RICA INC: $25,000 · International+2 more: $12,300 · InternationalBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $105,000 · HealthVISION TO LEARN: $100,000 · HealthErikas Lighthouse A Beacon of Hope for Adolescent Depression: $50,000 · HealthTHE JOSSELYN CENTER NFP: $50,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $50,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $30,000 · HealthMARCH OF DIMES INC: $25,000 · HealthPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO: $25,000 · Health+1 more: $5,000 · HealthTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $300,000 · EnvironmentEVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS: $100,000 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $17,000 · Environment+1 more: $2,000 · Environment
Other$7,024,500Food & Nutrition$1,230,000Human Services$852,000Housing & Shelter$605,000International$492,300Health$440,000Environment$419,000

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 budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $1,040,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetSHINE GLOBAL INC: $720,000 over 6y, 50% of budgetTHEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA: $607,000 over 5y, 9.2% of budgetTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $300,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetBRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC: $300,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetGLEN ELLYN FOOD PANTRY: $211,000 over 4y, 5.6% of budgetDUPAGE PADS INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $185,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HUMANITARIAN SERVICE PROJECT: $178,000 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetMISERICORDIA HOME: $135,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $105,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPAWS CHICAGO: $105,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $105,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVISION TO LEARN: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCOLLEGE OF DUPAGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetHELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetONE ACRE FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS: $90,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $80,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLegal Council for Health Justice: $75,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetThe Bhutan Foundation: $75,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGLEN ELLYN CHILDRENS RESOURCE CENTER: $65,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetDUPAGE SENIOR CITIZENS COUNCIL: $55,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNAMI Chicago: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetErikas Lighthouse A Beacon of Hope for Adolescent Depression: $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE THRESHOLDS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JOSSELYN CENTER NFP: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSafer Foundation: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMaryville Academy: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSpark Ventures: $25,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetINTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMIGOS OF COSTA RICA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHELONIAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $17,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE FAIR HOUSING CENTER INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetACTION AGAINST HUNGER - USA: $10,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND INC: $8,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF GLEN ELLYN: $7,000 over 3y, 6.3% of budgetCURE JM FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $3,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

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 Chicago Community…United Way of Metropo…The Dupage Community …AbbVie FoundationJpmorgan Chase Founda…John D and Catherine …The Blackbaud Giving …Arthur J Gallagher Fo…Gs Donor Advised Phil…American Endowment Fo…Enterprise Holdings F…Vanguard Charitable E…
The Chicago Community TrustIL26.4× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Dupage Community Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 16%
  • Chelonian Research Foundation: 16% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Cushing Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Cushing Family Foundation 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 83 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 Cushing 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