· Private foundation
Helen M Harrison 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- $10k–50k3 grants · $70k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
- $250k+1 grant · $540k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| VARIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER 25000 PER LOG (ATTACHED) | $540,000 |
| CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION | $50,000 |
| WAHL'S RESEARCH FUND | $50,000 |
| NEWBERRY LIBRARY | $25,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY SOCIETY | $25,000 |
| SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE | $20,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against -75% for those funded once.
10 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2023, 4 since wound down.
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
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CPCHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION4× · 2020–2023 · $200k · revenue +6%
- TCThe Corporation of Saint Mary's College Notre Dame4× · 2020–2023 · $90k · revenue +45%
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY2× · 2020–2021 · $75k · revenue +17%
Funded once
- VCVARIOUS CHARIBUTIONS PER LOGone grant, 2017 · $520k
- UDUkrainian Diabetes Projectone grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue -75%
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.
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 12 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Helen M Harrison Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helen M Harrison Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Helen M Harrison’s filings →