· Private foundation
Gregg Aaron Zale Family Foundation
Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Read this first · the figures below need context
100% of Gregg Aaron Zale Family Foundation’s FY2023 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year Gregg Aaron Zale Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $70k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2023.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2022
- Under $10k8 grants · $22k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $48k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JEWISH UNITED FUND | $30,000 |
| FRIENDS OF THE IDF | $18,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION | $7,500 |
| ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL | $5,000 |
| THE JOFFREY BALLET | $3,000 |
| CHABAD JEWISH LEARNING SOCIETY | $2,500 |
| THE JEWISH WOMEN'S FOUNDATION | $2,000 |
| HIAS | $1,000 |
| DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS ERF | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $250 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY21–21, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
6 repeat relationships — 5 still active in FY2022, 1 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call). Read against FY2022, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- JUJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO3× · 2020–2022 · $70k · revenue +13%
- TJTHE JOFFREY BALLET3× · 2021–2023 · $11k · revenue +215%
- CHCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY2× · 2020–2021 · $550 · revenue +27%
Funded once
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INCgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +159%- BRBRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $2k · revenue +60%
- TGTHE GROWING SEASON INCone grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue -509%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
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.
We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.
To engage in scientific research and educational activities throughout the world on behalf of and in conjunction with the university of chicago.
Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.
Unlocking the secrets of life itself is the driving force behind the salk institute. our team of world-class, award-winning scientists pushes boundaries of knowledge in areas such as neuroscience, cancer research, aging, immunobiology,…
Our mission is to expand scientific knowledge and improve public health by designing and conducting world-class clinical trials and epidemiologic research.
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…
Education and Research
University of the sciences prepares students to become leaders, innovators, and skilled practitioners in the sciences, the health professions, and related disciplines. we deliver excellence in teaching, research, and service through a safe…
See schedule ocri is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cancer immunotherapy through scientific discovery and global collaboration. since 1953, cri has funded research that deepens understanding of the immune system and its…
The mission of the institute is to translate basic genetic and molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia and related developmental brain disorders into clinical advances that change the lives of affected individuals. it is catalyzing a new…
To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc and the most unlike its peers is Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 15 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ↗
- Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE JOFFREY BALLET ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HIAS INC ↗
- Who funds THE GROWING SEASON INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Gregg Aaron Zale Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
- Hias Inc — 88% of income from government
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Gregg Aaron Zale Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Gregg Aaron Zale Family 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.