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Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$3.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
96
Grants FY2025still arriving
28
States reached
$474k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$21MHealth$1.3MRecreation & Sports$560kScience & Tech$157kArts & Culture$2kHousing & Shelter$1kEmployment$1kFood & Nutrition$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 96 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k21 grants · $126k
  • $10k–50k64 grants · $1.1M
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $979k
  • $250k+2 grants · $793k
$10,000
Median grant
28
States reached
$69M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANA$473,652
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN$319,566
DEPAUL UNIV$170,273
UNIV OF ILLINOIS CHICAGO$153,465
HOWARD UNIVERSITY$121,356
UNIV OF WISCONSIN$101,325
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY$97,500
UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA$97,483
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$87,927
CORNELL UNIV$84,500
IIT$65,407
DOMINICAN UNIV$49,772
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE$46,356
SPELMAN COLLEGE$40,000
UNIV OF CHICAGO$32,247
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, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, 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.

area typical 11%CAMP BLUE SKIES FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%Camp Blue Skies Foundation: $1k → 10%CAMP BLUE SKIES FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
AL
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$21M · 160 repeat orgs$287k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

160 repeat relationships: 78 still active in FY2025, 82 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

160
44

Total granted

$21M
$173k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+21%

Still filing today

57%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $114k 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
EducationRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesHealthHousing & ShelterEmploymentOther
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

  • UO
    University of Michigan
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +202% · 58% of their budget
  • DU
    DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +25%
  • LU
    LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
    9× · 2017–2025 · $650k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • GU
    GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2019 · $14k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $13k
  • SE
    ST EDWARDS UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
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
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
2
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
3
Endicott College

Endicott college offers students a vibrant academic environment that remains true to its founding principle of integrating professional and liberal arts with experiential learning. for more information see schedule o.

Education
4
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
7
Boston Architectural College

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

—
8
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
9
The Catholic University of America

As the national university of the catholic church in the united states, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the holy see, the catholic university of america is committed to being a comprehensive…

Education
10
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
11
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
12
University of Miami

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fordham University; the most unlike its peers is The Terry 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

125 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. 125 of the 223 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)
125/125
Grantees still filing
106/125
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $3,622,134 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISUNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANA: $1,412,857 · OtherUNIV OF ILLINOIS URBANAUniversity of Michigan: $1,285,012 · OtherUniversity of MichiganUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $855,290 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSINTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $529,413 · Other+91 more: $3,981,288 · Other+91 moreDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $1,083,296 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITYLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $649,836 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $609,571 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIACornell University: $498,337 · EducationTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $492,409 · Education+95 more: $7,370,523 · Education+95 moreNorthwestern University: $506,016 · Recreation & SportsBROWN UNIVERSITY: $118,783 · Community ImprovementCamp Blue Skies Foundation: $3,000 · Human ServicesALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,000 · Health
Other$11,685,994Education$10,703,972Recreation & Sports$506,016Community Improvement$118,783Human Services$3,000Health$1,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetUniversity of Michigan: $1,285,012 over 9y, 58% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $1,083,296 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $649,836 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $609,571 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $506,016 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $498,337 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $492,409 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $347,187 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEmory University: $333,165 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $301,513 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $228,152 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSpelman College: $227,010 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $220,243 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetMOREHOUSE COLLEGE: $209,613 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetLake Forest College: $196,400 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $188,743 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $180,639 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetKNOX COLLEGE: $176,667 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $162,833 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $162,720 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetST OLAF COLLEGE: $159,978 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $159,962 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $157,029 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetBRADLEY UNIVERSITY: $142,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMarquette University: $140,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $136,880 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University: $129,885 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $126,860 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $118,783 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetDePauw University: $116,823 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPOMONA COLLEGE: $113,390 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $111,085 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $108,700 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $107,828 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $103,271 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetNORTH PARK UNIVERSITY: $102,842 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetELMHURST UNIVERSITY: $99,798 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetColumbia College Chicago: $98,710 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $96,565 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLewis University: $88,370 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $83,112 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetOCCIDENTAL COLLEGE: $79,300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $78,257 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAgnes Scott College: $74,060 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $70,669 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTANA COLLEGE: $70,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetOberlin College: $68,212 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCORNELL COLLEGE: $62,644 over 3y, 0.1% 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 University of Michigan ↗
  • Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds Cornell University ↗
  • Who funds THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Illinois Institute of Technology ↗
  • Who funds Emory University ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Spelman College ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds MOREHOUSE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Lake Forest College ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Middlebury College ↗
  • Who funds The George Washington University ↗
  • Who funds KNOX COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds ST OLAF COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds BRADLEY UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Marquette University ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTICUT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds BROWN UNIVERSITY ↗

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.

Marquette Bank Educat…Enterprise Holdings F…AbbVie FoundationThe Chicago Community…Dr Scholl FoundationJpmorgan Chase Founda…Sam & Mary Palumbo Fa…Jewish Federation of …The Bank of America C…Verizon FoundationThe Blackbaud Giving …Ibm International Fou…
Marquette Bank Education FoundationIL22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Marquette Bank Education Foundation · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Dr Scholl Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Sam & Mary Palumbo Family Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Verizon Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Ibm International Foundation

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 Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 26% of income from government
  • Florida Memorial University Inc: 18% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 12% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 5% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 4% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College: 2% of income from government
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 0% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 0% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
  • Emerson College: 0% of income from government
  • The University of Tampa Incorporated: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
14report 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 Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund?

Find your warmest path to Ernest Wentcher Educational Fund 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 223 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 Ernest Wentcher Educational’s 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