· Private foundation
Elizabeth F Cheney Foundation
Its FY2022 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2022.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2022
- Under $10k51 grants · $187k
- $10k–50k30 grants · $598k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $300k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $100,000 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $100,000 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO | $100,000 |
| NU SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $40,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $40,000 |
| WFMT | $40,000 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO | $40,000 |
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $40,000 |
| GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL | $40,000 |
| JOFFREY BALLET | $25,000 |
| STEPPENWOLF THEATRE | $20,000 |
| GOODMAN THEATRE | $20,000 |
| MEMORIAL ART GALLERY | $20,000 |
| GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL | $20,000 |
| EVANSTON HISTORY MUSEUM | $20,000 |
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 (FY21–21, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, 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.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 9% of Elizabeth F Cheney Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 93% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 82%.
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 +33% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.
104 repeat relationships: 42 still active in FY2022, 62 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (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 FY2022, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $134k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CSChicago Symphony Orchestra6× · 2017–2022 · $731k · revenue +58%
- LOLyric Opera of Chicago6× · 2017–2022 · $699k · revenue +33%
- TATHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO6× · 2017–2022 · $590k · revenue +45%
Funded once
- GTGOODMAN THEATERone grant, 2020 · $46k
- FMFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORYone grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +22%
- SSTEPPENWOLFone grant, 2020 · $20k
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.
Presenting free high-quality classical music performances and music education experiences in the Chicago metropolitan area for people of all ages and degrees of musical awareness so they can experience how music enriches life.
Constellation is a performing arts presenter with an emphasis on forward- thinking practices, particularly in the areas of jazz, improvised, experimental, and contemporary classical music.
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra's mission as a professional orchestra is to utilize the universal expression of music to create profound, inspiring, and personal connections between the people and communities of Chicagos Southland.
Ballet Chicago is a professional track school of ballet that creates exceptional dancers. It makes classical ballet training accessible to all. Its founders Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair carry on George Balanchines legacy by providing…
To use multiple artistic forms (primarily dance and music) and the combined talents of our diverse company to convey intense personal narratives. We are proudly and visibly multicultural, exploring the intersection of heritage, culture,…
Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (CCO) creates intimate, transformative experiences that connect the musically curious.
To enrich the lives of our community through dance education and performance while developing Chicago's native talent pool in a welcoming environment that celebrates multiculturalism & ethnic diversity.
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble is a professional Equity company dedicated to elevating the lives of women through the power of theatre.
How this is measured
77 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. 77 of the 184 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 Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds GRANT PARK ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC ↗
- Who funds THE JOFFREY BALLET ↗
- Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC ↗
- Who funds Writers Theatre Inc ↗
- Who funds MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ↗
- Who funds THIRD COAST PERCUSSION NFP ↗
- Who funds EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER ↗
- Who funds CIVITAS ENSEMBLE ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO CHORALE ↗
- Who funds NORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC ↗
- Who funds Victory Gardens Theater ↗
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: Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Prince Foundation · The Irving Harris Foundation · Walder Foundation · John R Halligan Charitable Fund · Alphawood Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Elizabeth F Cheney Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Elizabeth F Cheney Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Elizabeth F Cheney Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Elizabeth F Cheney 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.
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