· Private foundation
Earl & Brenda Shapiro 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
56% of Earl & Brenda Shapiro Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Brown University, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 11 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $5k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $74k
- $50k–250k10 grants · $975k
- $250k+2 grants · $2.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Brown University | $2,000,000 |
| The Trustees of Princeton University | $500,000 |
| University of Chicago - Division Social Science | $130,000 |
| Inside Climate News | $125,000 |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $125,000 |
| Nourishing Hope | $100,000 |
| University of Chicago | $100,000 |
| Anti-Defamation League | $100,000 |
| The Aspen Institute | $100,000 |
| One World Network of Schools | $75,000 |
| Wild Salmon Center | $70,000 |
| Yale School of Architecture | $50,000 |
| Northwestern Memorial Foundation | $34,000 |
| VIA Art Fund | $15,000 |
| Greater Chicago Food Depository | $15,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–23, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +81% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.
19 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $49k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ICINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC2× · 2023–2024 · $250k · revenue +81%
- STSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY2× · 2023–2024 · $250k · revenue +129%
- ALANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE2× · 2023–2024 · $200k · revenue +253%
Funded once
- BUBrown Universityone grant, 2022 · $2.0M
- AIArt Institute of Chicago - Exhibitions Trustone grant, 2023 · $250k
- AIArt Institute Chicago - Exhibitions Trustone grant, 2022 · $250k
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.
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.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…
The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.
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.
The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."
The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.
Lookingglass theatre company is a national leader in the creation and presentation of innovative, cutting-edge theatrical work. lookingglass interweaves movement, circus arts and narrative in original and captivating ways. guided by an…
See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.
Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.
How this is measured
26 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. 26 of the 73 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 BROWN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC ↗
- Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds NOURISHING HOPE ↗
- Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds University of Chicago ↗
- Who funds WILD SALMON CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds THE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds SkyArt NFP ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Reva and David Logan Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Earl & Brenda Shapiro Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Earl & Brenda Shapiro Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Wild Salmon Center: 49% of income from government
- The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Earl & Brenda Shapiro’s filings →