· Private foundation
Ezra Levin Foundation
Its FY2021 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
97% of Ezra Levin Foundation’s FY2021 grant dollars went to Community Foundation Of East Central Illinois, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2021 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Ezra Levin Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 9 organizations, $16k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2021.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BRAHMANANDA SARASWATI YAGYA FOUNDATION | $3,000 |
| MAHARISHI GLOBAL ADMINISTRATION THROUGH NATURAL LAW | $2,000 |
| INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS BASE EDUCATION | $1,840 |
| IOWA CONTEMPORARY ART | $1,500 |
| UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION | $1,250 |
| COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS | $650 |
| UNITED WAY OF CHAMPAIGN | $650 |
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA JEWISH FEDERATION | $600 |
| FAMILY SERVICES | $500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $500 |
| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION | $500 |
| EASTERN ILLINOIS FOODBANK | $500 |
| SALVATION ARMY | $300 |
| Individual grant recipient | $300 |
| CHAMPAIGN PUBLIC LIBRARY | $300 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY17–18, $800) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
24 repeat relationships — 14 still active in FY2020, 10 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
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 FY2021, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
University of Illinois Foundation4× · 2017–2020 · $12k · revenue +127%- MIMAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY3× · 2017–2019 · $3k · revenue +42%
- PCPARKLAND COLLEGE FOUNDATION2× · 2017–2018 · $1k · revenue +56%
Funded once
- CCOMMUNIVERSITYone grant, 2019 · $6k
- RRRAJA RAAM FOUNDATIONone grant, 2017 · $1k
- UWUNITED WAY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTYgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue +48%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
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…
Community shares of illinois represents a diverse group of charitites with a common mission, to make our world a better place. whether your passion is women's issues, protecting children, helping animals, promoting health care or curbing…
To promote the health, welfare and prosperity of all the citizens of illinois by ensuring effective and democratic representation of utility consumers.
For children to grow and learn through youth sports programs, tutoring, and other projects.
The mission of the university of illinois alumni association is to enhance and advance the relationship between the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (the university) and all its alumni; to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among…
Ccbf pays bond for people charged with crimes in cook county, illinois. through a revolving fund, ccbf supports individuals whose communities cannot afford to pay the bonds themselves and who have been impacted by structural violence.
To provide joy in learning with excellence in education.
Our vibrant network of diverse chicago charter schools enables students to thrive every day, puts them on a path to success in college and life, and empowers entrepreneurial educators to pursue excellence through innovation.
Economic development within champaign county, il and surrounding communities
Change illinois action fund is dedicated to advocating for solutions to the issues that undermine democracy and government efficiency in illinois, including restricted ballot access, uncompetitive elections, decreased citizen…
Children's advocates for change was organized to improve the lives of children in illinois by bringing about significant changes public policies and programs for children through research, policy analysis and advocacy, public education and…
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club and the most unlike its peers is David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness -Based Education and World Peace. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
18 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 18 of the 43 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds University of Illinois Foundation ↗
- Who funds MAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds BRAHMANANDA SARASWATI YAGYA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHAMPAIGN-URBANA JEWISH FEDERATION ↗
- Who funds CHAMPAIGN-URBANA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PARKLAND COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY ↗
- Who funds DAILY BREAD SOUP KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds EASTERN ILLINOIS FOODBANK ↗
- Who funds CHAMPAIGN-URBANA BALLET ↗
- Who funds CUNNINGHAM CHILDRENS HOME OF URBANA IL ↗
- Who funds CRISIS NURSERY ↗
- Who funds CHAMPAIGN COUNTY CASA INC ↗
- Who funds THE READING GROUP ↗
- Who funds DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE ↗
- Who funds GIRL SCOUTS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds DON MOYER BOYS & GIRLS CLUB ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Wgrc Inc · Community Foundation of East Central Illinois · Iroquois Federal Foundation Inc · United Way of Champaign County · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · The Meyer Charitable Foundation · The Carle Foundation Hospital · American Water Charitable Foundationinc · Hartmann Family Foundation · Raynie Foundation · Donnini-Rudolph Family Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Ezra Levin Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.