Skip to content

· Private foundation

Gary and Nancy Penisten Family Foundation

Its FY2019 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$371k
Granted FY2019
10
Grants FY2019
2
States reached
$64k
Largest
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 2019.

Food & Nutrition$181kHuman Services$125kHealth$46kEmployment$44kReligion$25kPublic Safety & Disaster$8kEducation$7kArts & Culture$1k
02FY2019 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k1 grant · $4k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $303k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $64k
$40,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER$64,000
AURORA INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY$44,243
WELLNESS HOUSE$40,000
MUTUAL GROUND$40,000
LOAVES & FISHES$40,000
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF METROPOLITAN$40,000
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK$40,000
HESSED HOUSE$35,000
WAYSIDE CROSS MINISTRIES$23,425
AMERICAN RED CROSS$4,000
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 (FY17–19, $138k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 5% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $4k → 14%MUTUAL GROUND: $40k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $3k → 14%HESSED HOUSE: $35k → 8%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $500 → 14%MUTUAL GROUND: $4k → 8%MUTUAL GROUND: $3k → 8%HESSED HOUSE: $3k → 8%LOAVES & FISHES: $40k → 7%LOAVES & FISHES: $3k → 7%HESSED HOUSE: $2k → 8%LOAVES & FISHES: $2k → 7%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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$432k · 16 repeat orgs$4k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against -5% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2019, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
5

Total granted

$432k
$4k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
-5%

Still filing today

56%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
Human ServicesFood & NutritionHealthArts & CultureOther
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

  • PR
    PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER
    3× · 2017–2019 · $77k · revenue +70%
  • AA
    AURORA AREA INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY
    3× · 2017–2019 · $52k · revenue +9%
  • MG
    MUTUAL GROUND INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $47k · revenue +105%

Funded once

  • RC
    Rush Copley Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue +71%
  • SU
    STAND UP TO CANCER
    one grant, 2018 · $1k
  • EF
    EPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF NORTHCENTRAL ILLINOIS INC
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
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 Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri

The food bank for central & northeast missouri is a regional disaster and hunger relief network that acquires and distributes millions of meals each year to help neighbors get the food they need to thrive. (continued on schedule o)the…

Food & Nutrition
2
Nourishing Hope

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

—
3
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
4
Second Harvest North Central Food Bank

Engaging the community to end hunger

—
5
Heartland Community Health Clinic D/B/a Heartland Health Services

Provide affordable, high-quality health services and remove inequities to improve the lives of all.

Health
6
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank

Our mission is to solve hunger in central pennsylvania by ensuring that everyone struggling with hunger has access to enough wholesome food every day. we will achieve this bold goal with the help of our generous donors, volunteers and…

Food & Nutrition
7
Harvesters - the Community Food Network

Harvesters mobilizes the power of our community to create equitable access to nutritious food and address the root causes and impact of hunger.

Food & Nutrition
8
Northern Illinois Blood Bank Inc D/B/a Rock River Valley Blood Center

Rock river valley blood center, in partnership with our community, is dedicated to providing safe, high value blood products and services to people in need.

Health
9
Central California Food Bank

Ccfb is dedicated to ending hunger, working with over 200 partner agencies to provide food to those experiencing hunger. our mission: transforming lives together, in the passionate pursuit to end hunger in central ca - one meal, one…

Food & Nutrition
10
Coralville Community Food Pantry

We believe that food is a human right and that food has the power to bring people together. Our vision is to build a stronger, healthier, and hunger-free Coralville community. Powered by community support, the Coralville Community Food…

Food & Nutrition
11
Ageguide Northeastern Illinois Area On Aging

We strive to make aging easier through the development of a network of services for older persons designed to optimize the quality of their lives.

Food & Nutrition
12
Central Illinois Foodbank Inc

The Foodbank's mission is to provide food, and develop awareness of and creative solutions for food insecurity. Annually, the Foodbank distributes approximately 9.5 million pounds of food to 130 food pantries, soup kitchens, children's…

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northern Illinois Food Bank; the most unlike its peers is Concordia College. 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

12 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. 12 of the 21 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
10/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER: $77,000 · OtherPEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTERGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF METROPOLITAN: $41,000 · OtherGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF METROPOLITANWAYSIDE CROSS MINISTRIES: $25,425 · OtherWAYSIDE CROSS MINISTRIESBOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: $6,000 · Other+8 more: $8,400 · OtherMUTUAL GROUND INC: $46,500 · Human ServicesMUTUAL GROUND INCLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES: $44,500 · Human ServicesLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICESPUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER INC D/B/A HESED HOUSE: $39,500 · Human ServicesPUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER IN…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $7,000 · Human ServicesAURORA AREA INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY: $52,243 · Food & NutritionAURORA AREA INTERFAITH FO…NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $44,500 · Food & NutritionNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BA…Wellness House: $42,000 · HealthWellness Ho…+1 more: $1,000 · HealthSHELL MUSEUM AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$157,825Human Services$137,500Food & Nutrition$96,743Health$43,000Arts & Culture$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER: $77,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetAURORA AREA INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY: $52,243 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMUTUAL GROUND INC: $46,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $44,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWellness House: $42,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetPUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER INC D/B/A HESED HOUSE: $39,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRush Copley Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF NORTHCENTRAL ILLINOIS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHELL MUSEUM AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCONCORDIA COLLEGE: $500 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Fox Valley United WayIL13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fox Valley United Way · Dunham Fund · The Bersted Foundation · Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Gary and Nancy Penisten Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gary and Nancy Penisten Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 21 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Gary and Nancy Penisten Family’s filings →

    More from the funding graph