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Illinois · Private foundation

Determan Balk 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.

$145k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
20
Grants FY2025
22
Organizations funded FY2024
50%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$10,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$25,000
Organizations funded a year
15 to 23
FY2017 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
4
Total assets, FY2025
$1.5M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 50% of the organizations Determan Balk Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 22% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $31k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
EducationFood & NutritionReligionArts & CultureRecreation & SportsHealthOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving19$135k26%
FY202422$141k50%
FY202319$119k32%
FY202218$139k67%
FY202123$89k78%
FY201715$73kn/a
85% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$184kFood & Nutrition$89kRecreation & Sports$64kReligion$53kArts & Culture$50kPhilanthropy$47kEnvironment$43kHuman Services$43kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
IA
OH
CO
MO
VA
TN
NC
GA

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Northern Illinois Food Bank$50,00050%
Northwestern University$45,00020%
Refugeeone$45,00040%
Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks$24,50050%
Reading Power Inc$22,50041%
Gorton Community Center$20,50030%
Cornell University$20,10020%
Michigan State University$20,0002n/a
Ragdale Foundation$17,90031%
Upper Saranac Lake Foundation Inc$15,00022%
Show all 28 grantees
All grantees of Determan Balk Family Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Northern Illinois Food Bank$50,00050%
Northwestern University$45,00020%
Refugeeone$45,00040%
Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks$24,50050%
Reading Power Inc$22,50041%
Gorton Community Center$20,50030%
Cornell University$20,10020%
Michigan State University$20,0002n/a
Ragdale Foundation$17,90031%
Upper Saranac Lake Foundation Inc$15,00022%
Wayland Academy$15,00040%
Mothers Trust Foundation$6,00031%
Camping and Education Foundation$5,00010%
University of Chicago$5,00010%
Paul Smiths College$5,00010%
Manna Food Bank Inc$5,00010%
Waukegan To College NFP$2,50010%
Alliance for the Great Lakes$2,00010%
Eagle Island Inc$2,00010%
Foundation at Pck$2,00021%
Lake Forest Womans Club$1,5003n/a
Historic Saranac Lake$1,00010%
Team Summer co Lynne Dale$51620%
Regina Catholic Education Center$5001n/a
Deerpath Garden Club of Lake Forest$5001n/a
Chicago Public Media Inc$50010%
International Rescue Committee INC$50010%
Lake Forest College$50010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 39 recipients with no EIN on record ($360k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Determan Balk Family Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNorthern Illinois Food Bank: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRefugeeone: $45,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNatural History Museum of the Adirondacks: $24,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetReading Power Inc: $22,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetGorton Community Center: $20,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetCornell University: $20,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRagdale Foundation: $17,900 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetUpper Saranac Lake Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetWayland Academy: $15,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMothers Trust Foundation: $6,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCamping and Education Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPaul Smiths College: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetManna Food Bank Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWaukegan To College NFP: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAlliance for the Great Lakes: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEagle Island Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFoundation at Pck: $2,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetHistoric Saranac Lake: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTeam Summer co Lynne Dale: $516 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetChicago Public Media Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLake Forest College: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 24.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Butler Family FoundationIL15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Butler Family Foundation · John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy · Little Orchard Foundation · The Gorter Family Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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.

Compare Determan Balk Family Foundation with peer funders

About Determan Balk Family Foundation

How much does Determan Balk Family Foundation give?
Determan Balk Family Foundation reported 20 grants totaling $144,500 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 15 and 23 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2024.
What does Determan Balk Family Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (17%), Food & Nutrition (9%), Recreation & Sports (6%).
Who are Determan Balk Family Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Northern Illinois Food Bank ($50k), Northwestern University ($45k), Refugeeone ($45k).
Does Determan Balk Family Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Determan Balk 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 Determan Balk Family Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Butler Family Foundation, John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy, Little Orchard Foundation.
Where is Determan Balk Family Foundation based?
Determan Balk Family Foundation is based in IL.

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 70 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

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