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Determan Balk Family Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0185% 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
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $130k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES$25,000
RAGDALE FOUNDATION$15,000
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK$15,000
REFUGEE ONE$15,000
ADIRONDACK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$10,000
WILD CENTER$10,000
PENDRAGON THEATER$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER$10,000
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY$10,000
UPPER SARANAC LAKE FOUNDATION$5,000
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FOOD PANTRY$2,500
NORTH SCOTT HIGH SCHOOL$2,000
HISTORIC SARANAC LAKE$1,000
FOUNDATION AT PCK$1,000
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, $19k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%MOTHER'S TRUST: $5k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $3k → 8%MOTHER'S TRUST: $500 → 8%MOTHERS TRUST FOUNDATION: $500 → 8%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
WI
MI
NY
IA
OH
CO
MO
VA
TN
NC
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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$585k · 27 repeat orgs$111k to everyone else

27 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
35

Total granted

$585k
$97k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+48%

Still filing today

48%
26%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsFood & NutritionHuman ServicesReligionOther
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

  • Northwestern University
    2× · 2017–2021 · $45k · revenue +41%
  • R
    REFUGEEONE
    4× · 2022–2025 · $45k · revenue +41%
  • NH
    NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE ADIRONDACKS
    5× · 2021–2025 · $25k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • CC
    CATHOLIC CHARITIES ALEXANDRIA
    one grant, 2022 · $10k
  • CB
    CORNELL BAJA RACING TEAM
    one grant, 2017 · $8k
  • CA
    CAMPING AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%
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
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
2
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
3
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
4
Washburn University Foundation

The Foundation was created to assist in the promotion, development and enhancement of the financial resources for Washburn University of Topeka, as well as to receive and hold in trust any assets given in benefit of the University.

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
7
Lake Forest Academy

Lake forest academy strives to embody in its practices - and to cultivate in its students -excellence of character, scholarship, citizenship, and responsibility.

Education
8
Wheaton College

Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

Education
9
Lake Erie College

Lake erie college provides an excellent, inclusive, and highly personalized education grounded in the liberal arts tradition. guided by hope and care, our students are empowered to lead lives of personal significance and professional…

Education
10
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
11
Rockford University

To educate men & women to lead responsible lives by means of a curriculum grounded in liberal arts learning and complemented and extended by professional and practical experience, through the total academic and co-curricular experience,…

Education
12
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Lake County Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. 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

27 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. 27 of the 70 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
20/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $75,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCESIndividual grant recipient: $55,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FOOD PANTRY: $32,500 · OtherCHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FOOD PANTRYIndividual grant recipient: $30,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPENDRAGON THEATER: $30,000 · OtherPENDRAGON THEATERGORTON: $25,000 · OtherGORTONMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $20,000 · OtherGorton Community Center: $20,500 · OtherREADING POWER INC: $22,500 · Other+41 more: $129,306 · Other+41 moreCornell University: $20,100 · EducationCornell Un…UPPER SARANAC LAKE FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · EducationUPPER SARA…WAYLAND ACADEMY: $15,000 · EducationWAYLAND AC…University of Chicago: $5,000 · EducationUniversity…PAUL SMITHS COLLEGE: $5,000 · EducationPAUL SMITH…Waukegan To College NFP: $2,500 · Education+3 more: $4,500 · Education+3 moreNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $50,000 · Food & NutritionMANNA FOOD BANK INC: $5,000 · Food & NutritionNorthwestern University: $45,000 · Recreation & SportsEAGLE ISLAND INC: $2,000 · Recreation & SportsREFUGEEONE: $45,000 · ReligionNATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE ADIRONDACKS: $24,500 · Arts & CultureRagdale Foundation: $17,900 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $1,500 · Arts & CultureADIRONDACK FOUNDATION: $37,500 · PhilanthropyTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,000 · Philanthropy
Other$439,806Education$67,100Food & Nutrition$55,000Recreation & Sports$47,000Religion$45,000Arts & Culture$43,900Philanthropy$40,500

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

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 budgetADIRONDACK FOUNDATION: $37,500 over 5y, 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 budgetTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 2y, 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 budgetBLUE SPRINGS EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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
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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds REFUGEEONE ↗
  • Who funds ADIRONDACK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE ADIRONDACKS ↗
  • Who funds READING POWER INC ↗
  • Who funds Gorton Community Center ↗
  • Who funds Cornell University ↗
  • Who funds Ragdale Foundation ↗
  • Who funds UPPER SARANAC LAKE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds WAYLAND ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds Mothers Trust Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CAMPING AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds PAUL SMITHS COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds MANNA FOOD BANK INC ↗
  • Who funds THE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Waukegan To College NFP ↗

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 Foundat…John and Kathleen Sch…Little Orchard Founda…The Gorter Family Fou…The Chicago Community…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Natl Christian Charit…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…
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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 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

    Play a game based on Determan Balk 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