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Harry Swarts & Dolly Swarts Memorial Fd at a glance

· Private foundation

Harry Swarts & Dolly Swarts Memorial Fd

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$470k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$235k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

55% of Harry Swarts & Dolly Swarts Memorial Fd’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Jewish Federation Of Metropolitan Chicago, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 5 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

3
’17
3
’18
3
’19
3
’20
3
’21
3
’22
3
’23
3
’24
5
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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 2025.

Philanthropy$1.9MHealth$738kReligion$564kEducation$183kHuman Services$183kCivil Rights$155k
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k9 grants · $235k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $235k
$23,506
Median grant
5
States reached
$8.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO CHICAGO$235,049
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METRO CHICAGO$47,011
ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO CHAPTER$23,506
MENTAL HEALTH ASSN OF GREATER CHICAGO$23,506
THE SEEING EYE INC$23,506
TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO$23,506
CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND$23,506
ASSOCIATION OF UNITY CHURCHES INC$23,506
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY$23,506
THE SALVATION ARMY$23,506
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 95% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $27k → 8%THE SALVATION ARMY: $27k → 14%ASSOCIATION OF UNITY: $27k → 15%ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO: $27k → 14%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $24k → 8%THE SALVATION ARMY: $24k → 14%ASSOCIATION OF UNITY CHURCHES INC: $24k → 15%ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO: $24k → 14%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $24k → 8%THE SALVATION ARMY: $24k → 14%ASSOCIATION OF UNITY: $21k → 15%ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO CHAPTER: $24k → 14%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $21k → 8%THE SALVATION ARMY: $21k → 14%ASSOCIATION OF UNITY: $19k → 15%ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO: $21k → 14%THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION: $28k → 14%THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION: $27k → 14%MENTAL HEALTH ASSN OF GREATER CHICAGO: $24k → 14%THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION: $21k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR: $27k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $192k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR: $24k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $164k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND: $24k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $52k → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR: $21k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $27k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $24k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $24k → 14%TEMPLE SHALOM OF CHICAGO: $21k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $274k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $236k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO CHICAGO: $235k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $206k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $194k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $184k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $148k → 14%THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $99k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $55k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $47k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METRO CHICAGO: $47k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $41k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $39k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $37k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $36k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $35k → 14%THE JEWISH FUND OF: $30k → 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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.2M · 9 repeat orgs$141k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +52% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
5

Total granted

$3.2M
$141k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+52%
0%

Still filing today

11%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $141k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TJ
    THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.3M
  • TS
    TEMPLE SHOLOM OF CHICAGO
    9× · 2017–2025 · $540k
  • TJ
    THE JEWISH FUND OF
    8× · 2017–2024 · $320k

Funded once

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    one grant, 2025 · $47k · revenue 0%
  • AF
    ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO CHAPTER
    one grant, 2025 · $24k
  • AO
    ASSOCIATION OF UNITY CHURCHES INC
    one grant, 2025 · $24k
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
04the grantee network

5 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. 5 of the 16 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
5/5
Grantees still filing
1/5
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF: $1,340,478 · OtherTHE JEWISH FEDERATION OFTEMPLE SHOLOM OF CHICAGO: $540,430 · OtherTEMPLE SHOLOM OF CHICAGOTHE JEWISH FUND OF: $319,724 · OtherTHE JEWISH FUND OFTHE SALVATION ARMY: $183,372 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYTHE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION: $164,468 · OtherARTHRITIS FOUNDATION CHICAGO: $159,866 · OtherCHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR: $159,866 · OtherASSOCIATION OF UNITY: $155,264 · Other+4 more: $94,024 · OtherJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $235,049 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $47,011 · PhilanthropyTHE SEEING EYE INC: $183,372 · Human ServicesBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $183,372 · Education
Other$3,117,492Philanthropy$282,060Human Services$183,372Education$183,372

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 budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $235,049 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SEEING EYE INC: $183,372 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $183,372 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $47,011 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMental Health Association of Greater Chicago: $23,506 over 1y, 38% 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 JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds THE SEEING EYE INC ↗
  • Who funds BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Harry Swarts & Dolly Swarts Memorial Fd funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Harry Swarts & Dolly Swarts Memorial Fd. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’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 8%
  • Brandeis University: 8% of income from government
  • The Seeing Eye Inc: 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 16 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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