Skip to content

· Private foundation

Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp

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.

$11M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$9.0M
Largest
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$23MSocial Science$672kCivil Rights$350kInternational$118kHealth$38kPhilanthropy$36kYouth Development$28kEducation$18kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $67k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $369k
  • $250k+4 grants · $10M
$83,750
Median grant
5
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$9,000,000
LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO$528,000
ASPEN ART MUSEUM$480,000
Individual grant recipient$329,300
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$200,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$85,500
NEW MUSEUM$83,750
RENAISSANCE SOCIETY$25,000
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART$20,000
TATE AMERICAS FOUNDATION$12,000
CIRCLE OF HOPE - WELLSPRING HEALTH ACCESS (87-1195144)$10,000
ANDERSON RANCH ART CENTER$5,000
ASPEN PUBLIC RADIO$2,500
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 (FY17–19, $111k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%KINGSBRIDGE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER: $1k → 28%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNAL: $100k → 14%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNAL: $10k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
WY
UT
CO
KY
VA
DC
GA
TX
FL
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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$25M · 29 repeat orgs$855k to everyone else

29 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
30

Total granted

$25M
$845k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+41%

Still filing today

69%
77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k 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
Arts & CultureHealthInternationalEducationHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • MO
    MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
    8× · 2017–2025 · $10M · revenue +0% · 37% of their budget
  • NM
    New Museum of Contemporary Art
    9× · 2017–2025 · $4.6M · revenue +6%
  • LO
    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    8× · 2017–2025 · $3.2M · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • DC
    DIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $502k · revenue +150%
  • AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +102%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNRWA ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
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
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
4
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
5
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
6
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
7
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
8
International Center of Photography

The international center of photography is a museum and school dedicated to the understanding and appreciation of photography. icp creates programs of the highest quality to advance knowledge of the medium. these include exhibitions,…

Arts & Culture
9
Site Santa Fe

Guided by artists, rooted in new mexico, site santa fe celebrates contemporary creative expression.

Arts & Culture
10
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
11
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
12
Art Center College of Design

Our mission is to educate, inspire, and empower creative and design leaders.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is 5Point Film Festival. 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

45 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 45 of the 62 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/45
Grantees still filing
33/45
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $10,421,324 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTNew Museum of Contemporary Art: $4,592,850 · Arts & CultureNew Museum of Contemporary ArtLyric Opera of Chicago: $3,154,600 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of ChicagoASPEN ART MUSEUM: $2,088,500 · Arts & CultureASPEN ART MUSEUMCHICAGO OPERA THEATER: $895,000 · Arts & Culture+15 more: $1,609,550 · Arts & Culture+15 moreIndividual grant recipient: $1,597,000 · OtherIndividua…RENAISSANCE SOCIETY: $106,000 · OtherAMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNRWA ASSOCIATION: $100,000 · OtherWTTWWFMT: $90,000 · Other+26 more: $265,300 · Other+26 moreTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $671,550 · Social ScienceTHE ABRAHAM INITIATIVES INC: $230,000 · InternationalJ STREET: $10,000 · International+2 more: $7,500 · InternationalCHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL INC: $110,000 · Human Services+1 more: $1,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $5,000 · Civil RightsTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $46,650 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $12,000 · Education+1 more: $1,000 · Education
Arts & Culture$22,761,824Other$2,158,300Social Science$671,550International$247,500Human Services$111,000Civil Rights$105,000Education$59,650

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 budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $10,421,324 over 8y, 37% of budgetNew Museum of Contemporary Art: $4,592,850 over 9y, 11% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $3,154,600 over 8y, 1.1% of budgetASPEN ART MUSEUM: $2,088,500 over 9y, 16% of budgetCHICAGO OPERA THEATER: $895,000 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $671,550 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetDIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $502,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $301,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ABRAHAM INITIATIVES INC: $230,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF VIENNA INC: $155,000 over 2y, 73% of budgetTATE AMERICAS FOUNDATION: $126,350 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetCHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL INC: $110,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $90,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetAmericans for the Arts Inc: $85,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $46,650 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $31,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BUDDY PROGRAM INC: $27,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSundance Institute: $22,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJ STREET: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPathfinders: $7,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN PLANNED PARENTHOOD INC: $5,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDALLAS CONTEMPORARY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART MIAMI INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPlanned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASPEN VALLEY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget5Point Film Festival: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASPEN FILM: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKINGSBRIDGE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOPE CENTER INC: $800 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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
  • Who funds New Museum of Contemporary Art ↗
  • Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds ASPEN ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ↗
  • Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds DIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ABRAHAM INITIATIVES INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF VIENNA INC ↗
  • Who funds TATE AMERICAS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Americans for the Arts Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN ↗
  • Who funds NPR FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE BUDDY PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds Sundance Institute ↗
  • Who funds THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds J STREET ↗
  • Who funds CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds Pathfinders ↗
  • Who funds ROCKY MOUNTAIN PLANNED PARENTHOOD INC ↗
  • Who funds DALLAS CONTEMPORARY ↗

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 TrustIL15.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Communal Fund · The Broad Art Foundation · Cardinal Four Foundation Inc · Arison Arts Foundation · The Cowles Charitable Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust 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 Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp?

    Find your warmest path to Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp 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 62 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 Edlis - Neeson Foundation Nfp’s filings →

    More from the funding graph