· Private foundation
Ferdi Foundation
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, FY2022 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k15 grants · $36k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $152k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $115k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Chicago International Puppet Theatr | $115,000 |
| Environmental Law and Policy Center | $40,165 |
| Goodman Theatre | $40,000 |
| Loyola University Foundation | $27,200 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| Planned Parenthood | $20,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $8,400 |
| Womens Global Education Project | $5,000 |
| One Earth Collective | $5,000 |
| 5 Gyers Institute | $5,000 |
| Alliance for Great Lakes | $5,000 |
| Illinois Environmental Council | $1,500 |
| Oil and Water Don't mix | $1,033 |
| First St Paul Community Meals | $1,000 |
| WBEZ | $900 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
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 +10% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
18 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 7 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, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $12k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CTCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC3× · 2023–2025 · $68k · revenue +10%
- ELENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST2× · 2024–2025 · $46k · revenue +10%
- WGWOMENS GLOBAL EDUCATION PROJECT3× · 2023–2025 · $28k · revenue +122%
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $100k
- MFMoller Foundationone grant, 2023 · $39k
- SSCARCEone grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue 0%
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.
We safeguard the earth: its people, its plants and animals, and (see schedule o) the natural systems on which all life depends. we work to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life - air, land, and water - to defend…
Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.
Shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.
One Earth's mission is to empower everyone, everywhere, with the knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity to heal the Earth and reclaim our future.
How this is measured
16 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. 16 of the 48 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 THEATRE GROUP INC ↗
- Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST ↗
- Who funds WOMENS GLOBAL EDUCATION PROJECT ↗
- Who funds ONE EARTH COLLECTIVE ↗
- Who funds The 5 Gyres Institute ↗
- Who funds TRIVENI INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds SCARCE ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL GENERAL FUND ↗
- Who funds Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund Inc ↗
- Who funds DIGS WITH DIGNITY CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY ↗
- Who funds ONE TAIL AT A TIME NFP ↗
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: Moller Family Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Ferdi Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ferdi Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ferdi Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Ferdi 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.
Play a game based on Ferdi’s filings →