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Eisen Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Eisen Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$256k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% 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$969kPhilanthropy$495kHealth$153kInternational$100kHuman Services$10kRecreation & Sports$500Education$500Other$0
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $225k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$444k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND$75,000
LYRIC OPERA$75,000
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$75,000
JOFFREY BALLET$10,000
DARE2TRI$10,000
CRADLE TO CRAYONS$6,000
DRIEHAUS MUSEUM$5,000
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 (FY17–17, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CRADLES TO CRAYONS: $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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 6 repeat orgs$157k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
9

Total granted

$1.6M
$142k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+33%

Still filing today

67%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k 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 & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyHuman ServicesInternationalOther
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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    8× · 2017–2025 · $495k · revenue +13%
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
    6× · 2018–2025 · $456k · revenue +21%
  • WI
    WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
    2× · 2018–2019 · $100k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • LO
    Lyric Opera of Chicagograduated
    one grant, 2017 · $117k · revenue +33%
  • CT
    CRADLES TO CRAYONS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +202%
  • GG
    GUS GIORDANO'S JAZZ DANCE CHICAGO INC D/B/A GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO
    one grant, 2024 · $6k · revenue +19%
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

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
2
Rush University Medical Center

The mission of Rush is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities we serve through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research and community partnerships.

Health
3
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
4
Loyola University of Chicago

We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.

Education
5
Stanley Manne Childrens Research Institute

Stanley manne children's research institute strives to generate new knowledge and advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric diseases.

Health
6
New York University

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.

Education
7
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
8
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

SRAlab is dedicated to providing the best patient outcomes through the highest-quality clinical care, translational research, scientific discovery and education.

Health
9
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
10
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group

Northwestern memorial healthcare is an integrated healthcare system, consisting of multiple hospitals (including northwestern memorial hospital, an academic medical center) and networks of physicians and healthcare professionals, where the…

Health
11
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
12
Chicago Opera Theater

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.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Museum of Contemporary Art; the most unlike its peers is Blood Cancer United 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

12 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. 12 of the 17 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
10/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $456,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTLyric Opera of Chicago: $116,667 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of Chicago+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & CultureJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $495,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLIT…LYRIC OPERA: $375,000 · OtherLYRIC OPERACRADLE TO CRAYONS: $51,000 · OtherCRADLE TO CRAYONS+4 more: $12,500 · OtherWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $100,000 · InternationalDARE2TRI PARATRIATHLON CLUB: $95,000 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $500 · Recreation & SportsCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesGPF FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,000 · HealthAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $1,000 · Health
Arts & Culture$582,667Philanthropy$495,000Other$438,500International$100,000Recreation & Sports$95,500Human Services$10,000Education$5,000Health$2,000

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 budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $495,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $456,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $116,667 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDARE2TRI PARATRIATHLON CLUB: $95,000 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGUS GIORDANO'S JAZZ DANCE CHICAGO INC D/B/A GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO: $6,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGPF FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Eisen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Eisen 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 Eisen Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Eisen 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 17 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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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