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Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$7.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
355
Grants FY2024still arriving
22
States reached
$236k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$17MEnvironment$16MEducation$2.0MCommunity Improvement$1.8MAnimals$1.8MCrime & Legal$867kPhilanthropy$608kReligion$407kOther$0
02FY2024 · 355 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k155 grants · $925k
  • $10k–50k160 grants · $2.8M
  • $50k–250k40 grants · $3.4M
$10,000
Median grant
22
States reached
$194M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC$235,500
NATURE CONSERVANCY$185,500
CENTER FOR HEIRS PROPERTY PRESERVATION$170,500
DUCKS UNLIMITED$145,500
COASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE$133,500
NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION$125,000
CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$120,000
US ENDOWMENT FOR FORESTRY AND COMM$106,250
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BMR$106,000
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND$100,500
MITCHELL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN I$100,000
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC$100,000
SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER$95,000
OPEN SPACE INSTITUTE LAND TRUST$85,500
SOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT$85,000
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 (FY19–24, $304k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Rural Education and Development Inc READ Global: $8k → 10%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $15k → 14%SHAPE COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 16%DOWNTOWN WOMENS CENTER: $10k → 14%SHAPE COMMUNITY CENTER: $30k → 16%YWCA of Greater Charleston: $8k → 12%YWCA of Greater Charleston: $8k → 12%Jovenes Inc: $10k → 14%SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER: $29k → 14%Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $10k → 14%SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER: $10k → 14%Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $9k → 14%Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $9k → 14%Drayton Hall Preservation Trust: $50k → 12%Drayton Hall Preservation Trust: $25k → 12%Drayton Hall Preservation Trust: $25k → 12%Trap Door Productions: $8k → 14%Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $13k → 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

NH
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
GA
TX
FL
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$37M · 478 repeat orgs$3.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

478 repeat relationships: 293 still active in FY2024, 185 since wound down; 56 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

478
246

Total granted

$37M
$3.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+25%

Still filing today

76%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $833k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationAnimalsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • DU
    Ducks Unlimited Inc
    6× · 2019–2024 · $1.2M · revenue +89%
  • LL
    LOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC
    5× · 2019–2023 · $833k · revenue +543%
  • CF
    Center for Heirs' Property Preservation
    6× · 2019–2024 · $686k · revenue +258%

Funded once

  • SC
    South Carolina Coastal Conservation League Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $220k · revenue +49%
  • AS
    Audubon South Carolina state program of the National Audubon Society
    one grant, 2021 · $180k
  • TB
    THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
    one grant, 2021 · $105k
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
Chicago Humanities Festival

To promote public appreciation, understanding and support of the humanities through festivals and educational programs.

Arts & Culture
2
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
3
Chicago Opera Theater

Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.

Arts & Culture
4
On the Boards

On the Boards' mission is to invest in leading contemporary performing artists near and far and connect them to a diverse range of communities interested in forward-thinking art and ideas.

—
5
The City Theatre Company Inc

To provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience.

Arts & Culture
6
Third Coast International Audio Festival

To cultivate a growing international culture of listening.

Arts & Culture
7
Chicago Sinfonietta Inc

Chicago Sinfonietta is a professional orchestra dedicated to modeling and promoting diversity, inclusion, and both racial and cultural equity in the arts through the universal language of symphonic music. Our core values are built around…

Arts & Culture
8
Lawndale Art & Performance Center

Lawndale is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center that engages Houston communities with exhibitions and programs that explore the aesthetic, critical, and social issues of our time.See Schedule O for continuation.For over 40 years,…

Arts & Culture
9
The Chicago High School for the Arts

The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…

Education
10
Chamber Opera of Chicago
—
11
Chicago International Film Festival Inc Cinema-Chicago

Cinema/Chicago, the non-profit 501(c)(3) presenting organization of the Chicago International Film Festival, enriches the community through year-round programming devoted to international and independent cinema. We strengthen communication…

Arts & Culture
12
Constellation Performing Arts

Constellation is a performing arts presenter with an emphasis on forward- thinking practices, particularly in the areas of jazz, improvised, experimental, and contemporary classical music.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Arts Alliance; the most unlike its peers is Steps 2 Walk Inc. 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

572 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 572 of the 796 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.

17
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
178
Early backer (in before they grew)
549/572
Grantees still filing
385/572
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,173,403 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $822,000 · OtherSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTEROpen Space Institute Land Trust Inc: $680,500 · OtherOpen Space Institute Land Trust IncCoastal Conservation League: $678,600 · OtherCoastal Conservation LeagueChicago Community Trust - Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development: $650,069 · OtherChicago Community Trust - Arts Work Fund …OPENLANDS: $614,250 · OtherNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $513,500 · OtherCHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM: $412,000 · OtherNATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $427,500 · Other+59 more: $6,103,294 · Other+59 moreDucks Unlimited Inc: $1,215,600 · EnvironmentDucks Unlimited IncLOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC: $833,000 · EnvironmentLOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INCSOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC: $560,000 · EnvironmentSOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL L…LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $515,500 · EnvironmentLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INCILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION: $475,000 · EnvironmentILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL…THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $462,000 · EnvironmentTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPRO…NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $423,099 · EnvironmentTHE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $390,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $343,000 · EnvironmentSHIRLEY HEINZE LAND TRUST INC: $337,250 · Environment+21 more: $3,102,750 · Environment+21 more+83 more: $7,987,606 · Arts & Culture+83 moreMETROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL: $307,500 · Community ImprovementSouth Carolina Association for Community Economic Development: $280,000 · Community ImprovementCALUMET COLLARBORATIVE: $235,000 · Community ImprovementMETANOIA: $152,500 · Community ImprovementSUSTAINABILITY INSTITUTE: $135,000 · Community ImprovementTOGETHER SC: $74,557 · Community ImprovementNEW ALPHA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $65,000 · Community ImprovementURBAN JUNCTURE FOUNDATION: $55,000 · Community ImprovementCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $557,000 · EducationUniversity of Chicago: $170,000 · EducationCLEMSON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $110,000 · EducationLewis University: $100,000 · EducationTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $100,000 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $79,277 · EducationUniversity of South Carolina Educational Foundation: $75,000 · EducationNEO-FUTURISTS: $59,500 · EducationCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $685,500 · Crime & LegalNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION: $659,384 · Recreation & Sports
Other$12,075,116Environment$8,657,199Arts & Culture$7,987,606Community Improvement$1,304,557Education$1,250,777Crime & Legal$685,500Recreation & Sports$659,384

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetDucks Unlimited Inc: $1,215,600 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,173,403 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC: $833,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $822,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetCenter for Heirs' Property Preservation: $685,500 over 6y, 4.9% of budgetNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION: $659,384 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetOPENLANDS: $614,250 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC: $560,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $557,000 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $515,500 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION: $475,000 over 6y, 8.5% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $462,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $427,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $423,099 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $390,000 over 6y, 2.8% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $343,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSHIRLEY HEINZE LAND TRUST INC: $337,250 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetMETROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL: $307,500 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetSouth Carolina Association for Community Economic Development: $280,000 over 4y, 8.7% of budgetTHE LAND CONSERVANCY OF MCHENRY COUNTY: $255,000 over 6y, 5.5% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES: $252,800 over 6y, 1.6% of budgetCAROLINA ART ASSOCIATION DBA GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART: $245,500 over 6y, 1.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER: $245,075 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetFAITH IN PLACE: $243,500 over 6y, 2.0% of budgetCALUMET COLLARBORATIVE: $235,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetCONSERVATION VOTERS OF SC EDUC FUND: $231,000 over 6y, 5.0% of budgetSouth Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc: $220,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetChicago Cultural Alliance: $213,150 over 6y, 15% of budgetTHE WETLANDS INITIATIVE: $201,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetBlack Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago: $201,000 over 6y, 23% of budgetCHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC: $197,794 over 5y, 2.8% of budgetPEE DEE LAND TRUST: $195,000 over 6y, 3.9% of budgetTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $192,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGENEVA LAKE CONSERVANCY INC: $190,000 over 6y, 3.4% of budgetCHARLESTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $182,500 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetBEAUFORT COUNTY OPEN LAND TRUST: $182,500 over 3y, 12% of budgetPollinator Partnership: $180,500 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetLORD BERKELEY CONSERVATION TRUST: $180,000 over 6y, 6.7% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $175,450 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO COLLECTIONS CONSORTIUM INC NFP: $175,000 over 6y, 19% of budgetHILTON HEAD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $175,000 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $170,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $170,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGULLAHGEECHEE CULTURAL HERITAGE CORRIDOR COMMISSION INC: $170,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetILLINOIS ARTS ALLIANCE: $165,500 over 6y, 17% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA ARTS ALLIANCE: $159,550 over 6y, 21% of budgetSPOLETO FESTIVAL USA INC: $159,500 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetMETANOIA: $152,500 over 3y, 3.5% 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 Ducks Unlimited Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds LOWCOUNTRY LAND TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Center for Heirs' Property Preservation ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds OPENLANDS ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND ↗
  • Who funds SHIRLEY HEINZE LAND TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development ↗
  • Who funds THE LAND CONSERVANCY OF MCHENRY COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE FOREST PRESERVES ↗
  • Who funds CAROLINA ART ASSOCIATION DBA GIBBES MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER ↗
  • Who funds FAITH IN PLACE ↗
  • Who funds CALUMET COLLARBORATIVE ↗
  • Who funds CONSERVATION VOTERS OF SC EDUC FUND ↗
  • Who funds South Carolina Coastal Conservation League Inc ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Cultural Alliance ↗
  • Who funds THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY INC ↗
  • Who funds PEE DEE LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds THE MORTON ARBORETUM ↗

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 Richard H Driehau…Field Foundation of I…Walder FoundationLloyd a Fry FoundationJohn D and Catherine …Coastal Community Fou…Illinois Humanities C…Alphawood FoundationThe Joyce FoundationBuilders Vision Found…Prince FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …
The Richard H Driehaus FoundationIL142.3× affinity74 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Richard H Driehaus Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Walder Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina Inc · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · Alphawood Foundation · The Joyce Foundation · Builders Vision Foundation · Prince Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation 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 Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%23%51%90%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
    1get no government money at all
    94report 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.

    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 796 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley’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