· Private foundation
Ellie's Foundation Inc
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k11 grants · $23k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $32k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $226k
- $250k+1 grant · $269k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $269,324 |
| LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS | $226,472 |
| RESURRECTION LUTHERAN CHURCH | $12,000 |
| NCH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM | $10,000 |
| GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY | $10,000 |
| EMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH | $5,000 |
| MERCY HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS | $4,000 |
| GRACE PLACE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES | $3,000 |
| BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN CHURCH | $2,500 |
| FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | $2,500 |
| PINE MOUNTAIN MUSIC FESTIVAL | $2,500 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO | $1,000 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION | $1,000 |
| ARCS | $700 |
| MISERICORDIA HOME | $500 |
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 (FY17–25, $29k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 5% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
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 +47% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.
20 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $810 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LSLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS9× · 2017–2025 · $1.5M · revenue +94%
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY9× · 2017–2025 · $58k · revenue +140%- GPGRACE PLACE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES INC9× · 2017–2025 · $27k · revenue +47%
Funded once
- HPHISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATIONone grant, 2022 · $1k
- AFARCS Foundation Inc Illinois Chaptergraduatedone grant, 2019 · $500 · revenue +41%
WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INCgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $500 · revenue +27%
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.
Chicago sun-times serves the public interest by strengthening the well-being of our local communities and our democracy through independent local journalism.
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…
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.
Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…
To give members the ability to control their financial destiny by providing members with the means to satisfy their needs for financial services in a comfortable family-like environment. in doing so, the credit union strives to maintain…
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
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…
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…
See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…
We, mercy health system of chicago and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.mercy foundation is a member of mercy health system of chicago…
The mission of mchc chicago hospital council is to foster, promote, support, develop and encourage charitable, educational, scholastic and scientific purposes; promote cooperative effort and action between hospitals and other health care…
We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the…
How this is measured
17 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. 17 of the 30 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 LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds NCH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds GRACE PLACE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES INC ↗
- Who funds PINE MOUNTAIN MUSIC FESTIVAL ↗
- Who funds The Chicago Community Trust ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds MISERICORDIA HOME ↗
- Who funds ARCS Foundation Inc Illinois Chapter ↗
- Who funds WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS ↗
- Who funds Chicago Architecture Foundation ↗
- Who funds NOURISHING HOPE ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds FIRST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
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: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ellie's Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ellie's Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ellie's Foundation Inc?
Find your warmest path to Ellie's Foundation Inc 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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