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· Community foundation

First Look for Charity Foundation

The FIRST LOOK FOR CHARITY FOUNDATION is organized to operate exclusively for charitable, cultural, and educational purposes.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$443k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Health$7.2MHuman Services$6.2MYouth Development$2.3MReligion$1.3MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.3MRecreation & Sports$1.1MHousing & Shelter$683kEmployment$637kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $103k
  • $50k–250k14 grants · $1.6M
  • $250k+1 grant · $443k
$107,230
Median grant
2
States reached
$26k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MISERICORDIA$443,286
FRANCISCAN COMMUNITY BENEFIT SERVICES$171,461
ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION$162,220
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$155,925
SERTOMA STAR SERVICES$137,234
ADVOCATE HEALTH CARE$115,998
TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION$115,333
100 CLUB OF CHICAGO$109,084
SPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS$107,230
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO$103,708
LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION$103,498
CAL'S ANGELS$102,668
ALS ASSOCIATION$102,264
JESSE WHITE TUMBLING TEAM$72,027
SUSAN G KOMEN - CHICAGO$65,920
02The need
03

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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $5.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 79% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MISERICORDIA: $516k → 14%Misericordia: $467k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $443k → 14%Misericordia: $398k → 14%Misericordia: $379k → 14%Misericordia: $371k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $344k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $266k → 14%Turning Pointe Autism Foundation: $187k → 7%Turning Pointe Autism Foundation: $175k → 7%Turning Pointe Autism Foundation: $172k → 7%Turning Pointe Autism Foundation: $165k → 7%TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $141k → 7%TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $121k → 7%TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $115k → 7%TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $104k → 7%Clearbrook: $158k → 14%Clearbrook: $128k → 14%Clearbrook: $121k → 14%Clearbrook: $111k → 14%Lydia Home Association: $130k → 14%Lydia Home Association: $113k → 14%LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION: $103k → 14%LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION: $97k → 14%LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION: $85k → 14%Lydia Home Association: $75k → 14%LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION: $31k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$21M · 27 repeat orgs$190k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +39% since the first grant, against +24% for the ones you funded once.

27 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
1

Total granted

$21M
$105k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+24%

Still filing today

93%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $85k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
HealthHuman ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentReligionRecreation & SportsOther

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

  • MH
    MISERICORDIA HOME
    8× · 2017–2025 · $3.2M · revenue +76%
  • Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation
    5× · 2017–2025 · $1.5M · revenue +7%
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO
    8× · 2017–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • RG
    RAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
    one grant, 2017 · $105k · revenue +24%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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.

1
Pediatric Faculty Foundation Inc

We value excellence and innovation in clinical and basic research, coordinated and comprehensive patient care, ongoing physician education, and evidence-based child advocacy. our goal is to provide leadership in endeavors that promote the…

Health
2
Lurie Children's Surgical Foundation Inc

Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.

—
3
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
4
Children's Hospital of Chicago Medical Center

We are dedicated to the health and well-being of all children. as the pediatric teaching facility for the northwestern university feinberg school of medicine, this commitment drives us to be a leader in: -pediatric health care delivery…

Health
5
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
6
Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill

Founded in 1883, brightpoint (formerly known as children's home & aid) is a leading statewide organization supporting families so children can thrive.

Human Services
7
Mercy Foundation Inc

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…

Philanthropy
8
Loyola University Medical Center

We, loyola university health system and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.lumc is a member of loyola university health system and trinity…

Health
9
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
10
Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago

Create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite and empower the promise of youth. we nurture children, strengthen communities and believe that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life.

—
11
Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare Group

The elmhurst memorial healthcare group follows the mission of endeavor health (f/k/a ns-ee holdings). the mission of endeavor health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." central to this mission is a commitment to…

—
12
Mchc Chicago Hospital Council

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…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is March of Dimes Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 59 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%8%<5yr14%4%5–10yr18%12%10–20yr17%4%20–35yr15%23%35–55yr16%50%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%2%<5yr14%7%5–10yr18%7%10–20yr17%2%20–35yr15%30%35–55yr16%52%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 8% of your grantees by number, and just 2% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/30
the rest of the field
15%
5,555/36,729

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

28 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. 28 of the 30 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
24/28
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOIS — $1,275,822 · OtherTHE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOISCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago — $1,198,835 · OtherCatholic Charities of the Archdioces…SPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS — $1,054,070 · OtherSPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOISCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF JOLIET — $692,128 · OtherCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF…CHICAGOLAND HABITAT FOR HUMANITY JAMES HARRIS TREASURER — $683,239 · OtherCHICAGOLAND HABITAT FOR HUMANITY JAM…The Cradle Society — $447,784 · OtherThe Cradle SocietySusan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation — $317,464 · OtherFRANCISCAN HEALTH OLYMPIA FIELDS — $277,308 · OtherGLENWOOD ACADEMY — $239,161 · OtherFIRST LOOK FOR CHARITY FOUNDATION — $350,047 · Other+4 more — $405,201 · Other+4 moreMISERICORDIA HOME — $3,184,300 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA HOMETURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION — $1,180,937 · Human ServicesTURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDAT…LYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION — $633,603 · Human ServicesLYDIA HOME ASSOCIATIONCLEARBROOK — $518,204 · Human ServicesCLEARBROOKAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation — $1,485,984 · HealthAnn & Robert H Lurie Chi…ADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION — $1,283,465 · HealthADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUN…ALS UNITED GREATER CHICAGO — $446,138 · HealthALS UNITED GREATER CHICA…Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — $421,486 · HealthAnn & Robert H Lurie Chi…MARCH OF DIMES INC — $337,341 · HealthMARCH OF DIMES INCThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc — $301,033 · HealthThe Susan G Komen Breast…BREAKTHROUGH T1D — $278,907 · HealthBREAKTHROUGH T1D+1 more — $42,844 · HealthBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $1,353,077 · Youth DevelopmentFranciscan Community Benefit Services — $1,309,880 · ReligionJESSE WHITE TUMBLING TEAM INC — $979,719 · Recreation & SportsSERTOMA STAR SERVICES INC — $636,862 · Employment
Other$6,941,059Human Services$5,517,044Health$4,597,198Youth Development$1,353,077Religion$1,309,880Recreation & Sports$979,719Employment$636,862

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMISERICORDIA HOME — $3,184,300 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation — $1,485,984 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $1,353,077 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetFranciscan Community Benefit Services — $1,309,880 over 8y, 83% of budgetADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION — $1,283,465 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetTHE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOIS — $1,275,822 over 8y, 16% of budgetCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago — $1,198,835 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION — $1,180,937 over 8y, 6.7% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS — $1,054,070 over 8y, 1.9% of budgetJESSE WHITE TUMBLING TEAM INC — $979,719 over 8y, 49% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF JOLIET — $692,128 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetCHICAGOLAND HABITAT FOR HUMANITY JAMES HARRIS TREASURER — $683,239 over 5y, 14% of budgetSERTOMA STAR SERVICES INC — $636,862 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetLYDIA HOME ASSOCIATION — $633,603 over 7y, 2.0% of budgetCLEARBROOK — $518,204 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetThe Cradle Society — $447,784 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetALS UNITED GREATER CHICAGO — $446,138 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — $421,486 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFIRST LOOK FOR CHARITY FOUNDATION — $350,047 over 2y, 9.3% of budgetMARCH OF DIMES INC — $337,341 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc — $301,033 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D — $278,907 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGLENWOOD ACADEMY — $239,161 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetCAL'S ALL-STAR ANGEL FOUNDATION INC — $201,197 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetRAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES — $104,797 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL — $57,243 over 2y, 0.6% of budget
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.

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.

The Chicago Community…AbbVie FoundationJpmorgan Chase Founda…Charities Aid Foundat…Baird Foundation IncThe Coleman Foundatio…Northwestern Memorial…Enterprise Holdings F…The Dupage Community …United Way of Metropo…Arthur J Gallagher Fo…Motorola Solutions Fo…
The Chicago Community TrustIL19.4× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · AbbVie Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Baird Foundation Inc · The Coleman Foundation Inc · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · The Dupage Community Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Motorola Solutions 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 First Look for Charity 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.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%23%51%90%your share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 30 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines