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Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
41
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$4.3MHuman Services$1.0MHealth$703kCrime & Legal$483kPhilanthropy$475kPublic Benefit$375kYouth Development$287kEducation$285kOther$0
02FY2024 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k21 grants · $434k
  • $50k–250k19 grants · $2.1M
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$45,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$68M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE$250,000
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART$242,150
CHICAGO OPERA THEATER$236,000
ILLINOIS JUSTICE PROJECT$200,000
CHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN$175,000
LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO$150,000
P33$150,000
MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC$100,000
NAVY PIER INC$100,000
GOODMAN THEATRE$100,000
BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC$100,000
SOUTHLAND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY$75,000
SHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW$75,000
ERIE FAMILY HEALTH CENTER INC$60,000
REVOLUTION WORKSHOP$60,000
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 (FY23–24, $715k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%LITTLE FRIENDS: $15k → 7%JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $50k → 14%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES: $50k → 14%INSPIRATION CORPORATION INC: $50k → 14%MARYVILLE ACADEMY: $15k → 14%CASA CENTRAL: $50k → 14%CASA CENTRAL: $50k → 14%CHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $175k → 14%CHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $175k → 14%CHICAGO COMMONS ASSOCIATION: $50k → 14%REFUGEE EDUCATION & ADVENTURE CHALLENGE: $25k → 14%DEVICES 4 THE DISABLED: $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.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.9M · 25 repeat orgs$3.4M to everyone else

25 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 23 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
52

Total granted

$5.9M
$2.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+25%

Still filing today

76%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $713k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthEducationEmploymentCrime & LegalOther
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

  • GP
    GARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $641k · revenue +13%
  • CH
    CHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN
    2× · 2023–2024 · $350k · revenue +12%
  • LO
    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    2× · 2020–2024 · $250k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • HC
    HAMDARD CENTER FOR HEALTH &
    one grant, 2021 · $190k
  • KC
    KENNETH C GRIFFIN MUSEUM OF
    one grant, 2023 · $157k
  • KC
    Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industrygraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $157k · revenue +28%
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
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
2
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
3
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
4
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

The chicagoland chamber of commerce combines the power of people, with our legacy of leadership and business advocacy, to drive a dynamic economy. we focus on delivering value for our members, making chicagoland a world-class place to live…

—
5
Chicago Cultural Alliance

The Chicago Cultural Alliances mission is to connect, promote, and support centers of cultural heritage for a more inclusive Chicago. We are an active consortium of 50 cultural heritage museums, centers, and historical societies that…

Arts & Culture
6
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
7
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
8
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
9
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
10
Chicago Humanities Festival

To promote public appreciation, understanding and support of the humanities through festivals and educational programs.

Arts & Culture
11
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
12
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago; the most unlike its peers is Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Foundation. 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

73 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. 73 of the 102 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
73/73
Grantees still filing
50/73
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM: $623,334 · OtherCHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUMP33: $450,000 · OtherP33ILLINOIS JUSTICE PROJECT: $407,700 · OtherILLINOIS JUSTICE PROJECTILLINOIS HOLOCAUST MUSEUM: $300,000 · OtherILLINOIS HOLOCAUST MUSEUMHAMDARD CENTER FOR HEALTH &: $190,000 · OtherANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS: $160,000 · OtherKENNETH C GRIFFIN MUSEUM OF: $157,325 · Other+56 more: $2,290,000 · Other+56 moreCHICAGO OPERA THEATER: $566,300 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO OPERA THEATERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM: $484,300 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART…Lyric Opera of Chicago: $250,000 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of ChicagoCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC: $200,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INCFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $175,826 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTOR…ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $170,400 · Arts & CultureILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INCKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $156,519 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griffin Museum of Sc…MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $150,000 · Arts & CultureMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSICHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $100,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY PIER INC: $100,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $175,000 · Arts & Culture+5 moreCHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $350,000 · Human ServicesCHAPIN HALL…CASA CENTRAL SOCIAL SERVICES CORPORATION: $150,000 · Human ServicesCASA CENTRA…JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $145,000 · Human ServicesJUVENILE PR…The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $75,000 · Human ServicesThe YMCA of…Chicago Commons Association: $50,000 · Human ServicesMetropolitan Family Services: $50,000 · Human ServicesInspiration Corporation: $50,000 · Human Services+5 more: $85,000 · Human Services+5 moreGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $640,782 · Environment+2 more: $30,000 · EnvironmentThe Chicago Community Trust: $325,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $100,000 · PhilanthropyBETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC: $200,000 · Public BenefitMETROPOLITAN MAYORS CAUCUS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Public BenefitREVOLUTION WORKSHOP: $70,000 · EmploymentThe Cara Program: $70,000 · EmploymentUPWARDLY GLOBAL: $50,000 · EmploymentCODE PLATOON NFP: $30,000 · Employment
Other$4,578,359Arts & Culture$2,628,345Human Services$955,000Environment$670,782Philanthropy$425,000Public Benefit$250,000Employment$220,000

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 budgetGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $640,782 over 2y, 11% of budgetCHICAGO OPERA THEATER: $566,300 over 3y, 11% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM: $484,300 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetCHAPIN HALL CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $350,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetThe Chicago Community Trust: $325,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $250,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC: $200,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $175,826 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM INC: $170,400 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $156,519 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCASA CENTRAL SOCIAL SERVICES CORPORATION: $150,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $150,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $145,000 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNAVY PIER INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAccess Living of Metropolitan Chicago: $95,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCenter for Housing and Health: $75,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTHLAND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY NFP: $75,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetThe YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW: $75,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREVOLUTION WORKSHOP: $70,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetThe Cara Program: $70,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $60,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Commons Association: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetUPWARDLY GLOBAL: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MAYORS CAUCUS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 45% of budgetINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO: $50,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHEARTLAND ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGirl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLEGAL ACTION CHICAGO LLC: $50,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetThe Musical Arts Institute: $45,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetCODE PLATOON NFP: $30,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGUITARS OVER GUNS ORGANIZATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetIMD Guest House Foundation: $30,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetRefugee Education and Adventure Challenge (REACH): $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $25,000 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.

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…Polk Bros Foundation …Robert R McCormick Fo…Lloyd a Fry FoundationGeorge M Eisenberg Fo…Helen V Brach Foundat…John D and Catherine …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Circle of Service Fou…Field Foundation of I…United Way of Metropo…Andrew and Alice Fisc…
The Chicago Community TrustIL49.8× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · Helen V Brach Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Circle of Service Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Andrew and Alice Fischer Charitable Trust

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 Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Guitars Over Guns Organization Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust?

Find your warmest path to Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust 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 102 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Elizabeth Morse Genius’ 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