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Gff Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gff 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.

$22k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0181% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$72kHealth$70kPhilanthropy$49kAnimals$35kArts & Culture$31kReligion$18kInternational$6kHousing & Shelter$6kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k5 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$3,475
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSI$10,071
Individual grant recipient$4,000
LAKE SHORE DRIVE SYNOGOGUE$3,475
Individual grant recipient$2,400
SALEM BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHICAGO$1,000
VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL$750
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%HILLEL INTERNATIONAL: $1k → 14%AM ISRAEL SYNOGOGUE: $4k → 14%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH: $1k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSI: $10k → 17%AMER FRIENDS MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $1k → 17%LOOP SYNOGOGUE: $2k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%AMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%LAKE SHORE DRIVE SYNOGOGUE: $3k → 14%LAKE SHORE DRIVE SYNOGOGUE: $1k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%THRESHOLDS: $10k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $5k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $3k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $3k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $3k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $3k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $3k → 14%COURT THEATRE: $2k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $7k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $5k → 14%THE ARK: $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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$276k · 26 repeat orgs$20k to everyone else

26 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
2

Total granted

$276k
$2k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+99%
+536%

Still filing today

38%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHousing & ShelterReligionInternationalPhilanthropyFood & 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

  • TT
    THE THRESHOLDS
    7× · 2017–2023 · $70k · revenue +48%
  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    7× · 2017–2023 · $49k · revenue +13%
  • YI
    YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $7k · revenue +217%

Funded once

  • HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE
    one grant, 2023 · $1k · revenue +14%
  • CC
    COLLECTORS CLUB OF CHICAGOgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $685 · revenue +536%
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
Eastern European Jewish Heritage Foundation
Philanthropy
2
University of Judaism Foundation
—
3
The Jerusalem Connection
—
4
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Federation amplifies our collective strength to make the world a better place for everyone. we assist people in need, impact chicagoans of all faiths; support israel and the jewish people worldwide; respond swiftly to crises; cultivate…

Philanthropy
5
The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life Inc
Religion
6
National Council of Jewish Women Inc Jersey Hills Section
—
7
Sherit Isroel
—
8
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
9
National Center for Jewish Filminc

The national center for jewish film is a unique, independent nonprofit motion picture archive, distributor, resource center and exhibitor. ncjf's ongoing mission is the collection, preservation and exhibition of films with artistic and…

Arts & Culture
10
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
11
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

The weitzman national museum of american jewish history, on independence mall in philadelphia, presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore, and celebrate the history of jews in america. its purpose is to connect…

Arts & Culture
12
The University of Iowa Louis Shulman Hillel Foundation

The mission of Iowa Hillel is to enhance the lives of Jewish students at the University of Iowa, so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Iowa Hillel envisions a world for our students where they find a community here at Iowa…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Friends of Hebrew University Inc; the most unlike its peers is Collectors Club of Chicago. 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

16 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. 16 of the 35 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
13/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE THRESHOLDS: $70,000 · OtherTHE THRESHOLDSAMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $60,000 · OtherAMERICAN FRIENDS HEBREW UNIVERSITYTHE ARK: $35,000 · OtherTHE ARK+17 more: $28,555 · Other+17 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $49,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND…Court Theatre Fund: $21,500 · Arts & CultureCourt Thea…Remy Bumppo Theatre Company: $2,550 · Arts & CultureRemy Bumpp…Irish Music School of Chicago: $2,500 · Arts & CultureIrish Musi…+1 more: $700 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $10,071 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL FUND: $5,000 · InternationalVOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL INC: $750 · International+1 more: $500 · InternationalYIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH INC: $7,000 · ReligionHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $1,000 · ReligionA LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN: $2,000 · Housing & ShelterDEBORAH'S PLACE: $1,750 · Housing & ShelterSARAH'S CIRCLE: $1,750 · Housing & ShelterGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $1,600 · Food & Nutrition
Other$193,555Philanthropy$49,000Arts & Culture$27,250International$16,321Religion$8,000Housing & Shelter$5,500Food & Nutrition$1,600

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 budgetTHE THRESHOLDS: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $49,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $10,071 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH INC: $7,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRemy Bumppo Theatre Company: $2,550 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetIrish Music School of Chicago: $2,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetA LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN: $2,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetDEBORAH'S PLACE: $1,750 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSARAH'S CIRCLE: $1,750 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $1,600 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL INC: $750 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER INC: $700 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLECTORS CLUB OF CHICAGO: $685 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $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.

  • Who funds THE THRESHOLDS ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW ISRAEL FUND ↗
  • Who funds Remy Bumppo Theatre Company ↗
  • Who funds Irish Music School of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN ↗
  • Who funds DEBORAH'S PLACE ↗
  • Who funds SARAH'S CIRCLE ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE ↗
  • Who funds VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds COLLECTORS CLUB OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗

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.

Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA3.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Gff Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gff Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • National Yiddish Book Center Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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 · 0–75%
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 35 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 Gff’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