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Gamson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gamson Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$69k
Granted FY2023
5
Grants FY2023
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2023.

Education$2.0MRecreation & Sports$155kEnvironment$100kInternational$56kPhilanthropy$55kHealth$18kArts & Culture$17kCommunity Improvement$10kOther$0
02FY2023 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k4 grants · $19k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OneGoal$50,000
Holocaust Memorial Foundation II$6,097
Hope Chicago$5,000
The Chicago Innovation Foundation$5,000
Chai Lifeline$3,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 41% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%AMHERST COLLEGE: $50k → 12%Global Citizen Year: $5k → 10%TIDES FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%Chai Lifeline: $3k → 17%Holocaust Memorial Foundation II: $6k → 14%NORTH SHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT 112 BOE: $1.2M → 8%Chicago Chess Foundation: $5k → 14%Earth Island Institute: $50k → 10%RAZOM INC: $50k → 17%PARKS FOUNDATION OF HIGHLAND PARK: $100k → 8%The Chicago Innovation Foundation: $5k → 14%Earth Island Institute: $50k → 10%NORTH SHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT 112 BOE: $85k → 8%TedXChicago: $5k → 14%PARKS FOUNDATION OF HIGHLAND PARK: $50k → 8%TedXChicago: $5k → 14%RAVINIA: $11k → 8%P33: $50k → 14%Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicag: $15k → 14%One Goal: $200k → 14%One Goal: $200k → 14%ONE GOAL: $199k → 14%OneGoal: $50k → 14%One Goal: $5k → 14%PAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%Hope 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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 5 repeat orgs$229k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +190% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 4 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
10

Total granted

$2.2M
$210k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+190%
+35%

Still filing today

60%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
PhilanthropyInternationalHealthYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther
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
    ONEGOAL
    5× · 2018–2023 · $654k · revenue +7%
  • PF
    PARKS FOUNDATION OF HIGHLAND PARK
    2× · 2021–2022 · $150k · revenue ×22 · 39% of their budget
  • Earth Island Institute Inc
    2× · 2018–2020 · $100k · revenue +190%

Funded once

  • RAZOM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue -65%
  • AC
    AMHERST COLLEGE TRUSTEESgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +46%
  • P
    P33
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
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
The Chicago Scholars Foundation

Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.

Education
2
Northern Illinois University Foundation

The niu foundation's mission is to energize and connect the private sector with the niu community to secure and steward resources that support the future and growth of niu.

Education
3
The Richard H Driehaus Foundation
Philanthropy
4
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
5
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
7
Students Run Chicago
Health
8
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
9
AI4ALL

Ai4all's mission is to ensure that the next generation of ai leaders reflects humanity. ai4all is transforming the pipeline of ai practitioners who will shape ai for the benefit of humanity.

Youth Development
10
Chapin Hall Center for Children

Chapin hall's mission is to improve the well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities through broad-perspective policy research.

Human Services
11
Aia Chicago Foundation

Aia chicago foundation invests in chicago's next generation of architectural change-makers by awarding scholarships, grants, and recognition.

—
12
Future Founders Foundation

Future founders is building the nation's largest inclusive community of intentional young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial-minded leaders.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hope Chicago Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Chicago Innovation 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

13 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. 13 of the 20 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
10/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTH SHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT 112 BOE: $1,324,402 · OtherNORTH SHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT 112 BOEP33: $50,000 · Other+6 more: $50,597 · OtherONEGOAL: $654,068 · Youth DevelopmentONEGOALPARKS FOUNDATION OF HIGHLAND PARK: $150,000 · PhilanthropyPARKS FOU…TIDES FOUNDATION: $50,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOU…+2 more: $10,000 · PhilanthropyEarth Island Institute Inc: $100,000 · EnvironmentRAZOM INC: $50,000 · InternationalTilting Futures Incorporated: $5,000 · InternationalAMHERST COLLEGE TRUSTEES: $50,000 · EducationAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $15,000 · HealthCHAI LIFELINE INC: $3,000 · HealthCHICAGO CHESS FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$1,424,999Youth Development$654,068Philanthropy$210,000Environment$100,000International$55,000Education$50,000Health$18,000Recreation & Sports$5,000

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 budgetONEGOAL: $654,068 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetPARKS FOUNDATION OF HIGHLAND PARK: $150,000 over 2y, 39% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetRAZOM INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMHERST COLLEGE TRUSTEES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAT TILLMAN FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO INNOVATION FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHOPE CHICAGO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTilting Futures Incorporated: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHAI LIFELINE INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Fidelity Investments …
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Gamson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gamson Family 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%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Amherst College Trustees: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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.

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 20 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Gamson Family’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