Skip to content
Full Circle Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Full Circle Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
81
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$280k
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.

Environment$1.4MHousing & Shelter$827kHealth$805kEducation$608kHuman Services$498kInternational$453kEmployment$399kFood & Nutrition$380kOther$0
02FY2025 · 81 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k67 grants · $1.4M
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $360k
  • $250k+1 grant · $280k
$20,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$4.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MCHENRY CO COLLEGE$280,000
Individual grant recipient$80,000
NRDC$80,000
WETLANDS INITIATIVE$50,000
Individual grant recipient$50,000
CARTER CENTER$50,000
OPEN LANDS$50,000
CYCLING WITHOUT AGE$40,500
NATURE CONSERVANCY IN ILLINOIS$40,000
CASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY$40,000
ALL CHICAGO$40,000
FAMILY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP CLINIC$40,000
TUTORING CHICAGO$40,000
TURNING POINT$40,000
LA CASA NORTE$35,000
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 (FY17–25, $429k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 53% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%MIDWEST SHELTER FOR HOMELESS VETS: $15k → 7%BEACON PLACE: $15k → 8%BEACON PLACE: $10k → 8%LOVE MOVES US: $5k → 7%BEACON PLACE: $8k → 8%BEACON PLACE: $8k → 8%BEACON PLACE: $8k → 8%BEACON PLACE: $8k → 8%INSPIRATION CORP: $15k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $15k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $13k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $10k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $10k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $10k → 14%CLEARBROOK: $15k → 6%INSPIRATION CORP: $10k → 14%SAGE YMCA: $13k → 6%INSPIRATION CORP: $10k → 14%TURNING POINT: $40k → 6%HUNGER RESOURCE NETWORK: $20k → 14%TURNING POINT: $25k → 6%TURNING POINT: $18k → 6%CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING NORTHERN: $10k → 6%TURNING POINT: $5k → 6%JOURNEYCARE: $10k → 14%JOURNEYCARE: $10k → 14%JOURNEYCARE: $10k → 14%JOURNEYCARE: $10k → 14%JOURNEYCARE: $10k → 14%JOURNEYS - THE ROAD HOME: $20k → 14%SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN: $10k → 14%LATINO UNION OF CHICAGO: $8k → 14%KAN WIN: $6k → 14%KAN WIN: $6k → 14%KAN WIN: $6k → 14%LATINO UNION OF CHICAGO: $5k → 14%LATINO UNION OF CHICAGO: $5k → 14%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

VT
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
NJ
CO
VA
MD
AR
DC
HI
AL
GA
TX
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.6M · 83 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

83 repeat relationships: 57 still active in FY2025, 26 since wound down; 23 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

83
59

Total granted

$5.6M
$682k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+8%

Still filing today

54%
32%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $653k 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
Human ServicesHousing & ShelterArts & CultureEducationHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • O
    OPENLANDS
    8× · 2018–2025 · $280k · revenue +7%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $175k · revenue +39%
  • TC
    THE CARTER CENTER INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $165k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • CD
    COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2023 · $150k · revenue +8% · 30% of their budget
  • RT
    RICHMOND TOWNSHIP FIRE PROTECTION D
    one grant, 2021 · $45k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $30k
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
Legal Aid Chicago

At legal aid chicago, we work together to provide high quality civil legal aid to people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.through advocacy, education, collaboration, and litigation we empower individuals, protect fundamental…

Crime & Legal
2
Center for Housing and Health

Chh honors every person's right to a home and health care, by bridging the housing and health care systems, to improve the lives of chicagoans experiencing homelessness.

Housing & Shelter
3
Goodwill Industries of Northern Il and Wi Stateline Area Inc

The mission of goodwill is to create opportunities for individuals with barriers to enhance their lives. barriers include physical or mental disabilities, lack of education and job preparation, socio-economic disadvantages, and others.…

—
4
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
5
Community Health Partnership of Illinois

Strive to improve the health and well being of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and other medically vulnerable populations by providing quality accessable, affordable, and culturally responsive health care within the community we serve.

Health
6
Arise Chicago

Arise chicago builds partnerships between faith communities and workers to fight workplace injustice through education, organizing, and advocating for public policy changes.

Employment
7
Chicago Refugee Coalition

The Chicago Refugee Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated ot the alleviation of human suffering through innovative partnerships, advocacy and community empowerment.

Human Services
8
The Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County

To provide decent, safe and sanitary housing that is affordable to low and moderate-income persons and to stabilize and strengthen communities by improving the local housing stock. the corporation shall administer programs that revitalize…

Human Services
9
Lakeshore Legal Aid

Standing with our neighbors, Lakeshore Legal Aid fights poverty and injustice through advocacy and by providing meaningful and dignified access to the legal system.

Crime & Legal
10
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

—
11
Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants

Serving recently arrived migrants and asylum seekers in the Chicagoland area and is committed to upholding the dignity and human rights of immigrants.

Human Services
12
Illinois Presbyterian Home

Operate homes for the aged and to conduct charitable and benevolent enterprises

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans Inc; the most unlike its peers is Leadership Greater Mchenry County. 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

84 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. 84 of the 167 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)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
78/84
Grantees still filing
51/84
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NRDC: $360,000 · OtherNRDCOPENLANDS: $280,000 · OtherOPENLANDSMCHENRY CO COLLEGE: $280,000 · OtherMCHENRY CO COLLEGEIndividual grant recipient: $270,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $220,000 · Other+126 more: $3,773,776 · Other+126 moreInspiration Corporation: $92,500 · Human ServicesTurning Point Inc: $88,000 · Human ServicesThe Beacon Place NFP: $55,000 · Human ServicesElea Institute: $50,000 · Human ServicesHUNGER RESOURCE NETWORK: $20,000 · Human ServicesPADS TO HOPE DBA-JOURNEYS THE ROAD HOME: $20,000 · Human ServicesKAN-WIN: $18,000 · Human ServicesLatino Union of Chicago: $17,500 · Human ServicesCLEARBROOK: $15,000 · Human ServicesMIDWEST SHELTER FOR HOMELESS VETERANS INC: $15,000 · Human Services+5 more: $42,650 · Human ServicesMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $175,000 · InternationalTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $165,000 · InternationalCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $67,250 · InternationalALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $100,000 · Housing & ShelterLA CASA NORTE: $88,000 · Housing & ShelterREFUGE FOR WOMEN INC: $48,300 · Housing & ShelterHome of the Sparrow Inc: $20,000 · Housing & ShelterTransitional Living Services Inc: $20,000 · Housing & ShelterSARAH'S CIRCLE: $20,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $5,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE: $171,000 · EnvironmentSEVEN GENERATIONS AHEAD: $82,500 · Environment+1 more: $8,000 · EnvironmentINNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION: $150,000 · EmploymentGROWING HOME INC: $109,500 · EmploymentTUTORING CHICAGO: $142,500 · Arts & CultureNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureRAUE CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $14,000 · Arts & CulturePOSITIVE FUTURES NETWORK DBA YES MEDIA: $10,000 · Arts & CultureINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$5,183,776Human Services$433,650International$407,250Housing & Shelter$301,300Environment$261,500Employment$259,500Arts & Culture$231,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOPENLANDS: $280,000 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $175,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE: $171,000 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $165,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCOOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC: $150,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetINNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetTUTORING CHICAGO: $142,500 over 9y, 3.2% of budgetCHICAGO LIGHTS: $132,500 over 9y, 0.6% of budgetLEADERSHIP GREATER MCHENRY COUNTY: $110,000 over 6y, 14% of budgetGROWING HOME INC: $109,500 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetIMENTOR INC: $105,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $100,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $92,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetIndependence Health & Therapy: $90,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $90,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTurning Point Inc: $88,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetLA CASA NORTE: $88,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetSEVEN GENERATIONS AHEAD: $82,500 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetFamily Health Partnership Clinic: $75,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetFOOD CO-OP INITIATIVE: $70,000 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetTHE THRESHOLDS: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY INC: $70,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $67,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HARVARD COMMUNITY SENIOR CENTER: $66,000 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetROSECRANCE FOUNDATION INC: $64,700 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetPRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC: $59,400 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Beacon Place NFP: $55,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $50,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetElea Institute: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $50,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetREFUGE FOR WOMEN INC: $48,300 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetNAMI OF MCHENRY COUNTY ILLINOIS: $45,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTHE DELTA INSTITUTE: $40,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LAND CONSERVANCY OF MCHENRY COUNTY: $36,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetLINK Unlimited Scholars: $35,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMATH CIRCLES OF CHICAGO: $30,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetWoodstock Food Pantry: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCOOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUND OF CDS: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetARTS REFRESHING THE SOUL: $25,000 over 3y, 13% of budgetHome of the Sparrow Inc: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPlant Chicago NFP: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWILL COUNTY CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CONCERNS: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPADS TO HOPE DBA-JOURNEYS THE ROAD HOME: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetMUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSARAH'S CIRCLE: $20,000 over 2y, 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 OPENLANDS ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds THE CARTER CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds INNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TUTORING CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO LIGHTS ↗
  • Who funds LEADERSHIP GREATER MCHENRY COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds GROWING HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds IMENTOR INC ↗
  • Who funds ALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds Inspiration Corporation ↗
  • Who funds Independence Health & Therapy ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds Turning Point Inc ↗
  • Who funds LA CASA NORTE ↗
  • Who funds SEVEN GENERATIONS AHEAD ↗
  • Who funds Family Health Partnership Clinic ↗
  • Who funds FOOD CO-OP INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds THE THRESHOLDS ↗
  • Who funds CASA OF MCHENRY COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HARVARD COMMUNITY SENIOR CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ROSECRANCE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds The Beacon Place 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.

The Community Foundat…The Chicago Community…George M Eisenberg Fo…Northwestern Memorial…Willow Springs Charit…Foglia Family Foundat…Circle of Service Fou…Polk Bros Foundation …AbbVie FoundationThe Bersted FoundationAptargroup Charitable…United Way of Metropo…
The Community Foundation for McHenry CountyIL48.9× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation for McHenry County · The Chicago Community Trust · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group · Willow Springs Charitable Trust Jenny B Stoddard Trustee · Foglia Family Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · AbbVie Foundation · The Bersted Foundation · Aptargroup Charitable Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc

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 Full Circle Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Full Circle Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    28report 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 Full Circle Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Full Circle 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.

    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 167 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 Full Circle’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