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Helen V Brach Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Helen V Brach Foundation

Its FY2026 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$5.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
553
Grants FY2025still arriving
28
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$8.5MHealth$3.1MReligion$3.0MHuman Services$2.7MHousing & Shelter$1.9MFood & Nutrition$1.9MAnimals$1.8MArts & Culture$1.2MOther$0
02FY2025 · 553 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k252 grants · $666k
  • $10k–50k286 grants · $4.4M
  • $50k–250k15 grants · $900k
$10,000
Median grant
28
States reached
$129M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Loyola University of Chicago$100,000
Big Shoulders Fund$100,000
Lincoln Park Zoo$75,000
Misericordia$75,000
NIJC- National Immigrant Justice Ctr$50,000
Red Cloud Indian School$50,000
Dominican University$50,000
Catholic Extension Soc USA$50,000
Northern IL Food Bank$50,000
Greater Chicago Food Depository$50,000
Chicago Zoological Society Brookfield Zoo$50,000
St Ignatius College Prep$50,000
Access Living of Chicago$50,000
Catholic Theological Union$50,000
Catholic Charities Chicago$50,000
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 (FY21–25, $2.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 85% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Milestone Inc: $25k → 15%Catholic Charities New Orleans: $25k → 23%Milestone Inc: $15k → 15%Milestone Inc: $15k → 15%Milestone Inc: $15k → 15%Milestone Inc: $15k → 15%Main Stay Therapeutic Farm: $15k → 6%Barbara Olson Cntr of Hope: $15k → 15%Equestrian Connection: $25k → 8%Equestrian Connection: $15k → 8%Equestrian Connection: $15k → 8%Juvenile Protective Assoc: $15k → 14%Juvenile Protective Assoc: $15k → 14%Juvenile Protective Assoc: $15k → 14%Partners For Progress: $15k → 8%Equestrian Connection: $15k → 8%Equestrian Connection: $15k → 8%Aspiritech NFP: $25k → 8%Aspiritech NFP: $15k → 8%Partners For Progress: $15k → 8%Aspiritech NFP: $15k → 8%Aspiritech NFP: $15k → 8%Safe Families for Children: $20k → 14%Safe Families for Children: $15k → 14%Safe Families for Children: $15k → 14%Share our Spare: $15k → 14%Taller de Jose: $15k → 14%Taller de Jose: $15k → 14%Taller de Jose: $15k → 14%Aspiritech NFP: $15k → 14%Taller de Jose: $15k → 14%Inspiration Corporation: $25k → 14%Inspiration Corporation: $15k → 14%Care For Real: $15k → 14%Misericordia Foundation: $75k → 14%Maryville Academy: $50k → 14%Maryville Academy: $35k → 14%Maryville Academy: $35k → 14%Maryville Academy: $35k → 14%Night Ministry: $25k → 14%Maryville Academy: $35k → 14%South Suburban PADS: $25k → 14%South Suburban PADS: $25k → 14%Chicago Lighthouse: $25k → 14%SOS Children's Villages IL: $25k → 14%Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants: $25k → 14%Interfaith Comm for Detained Immigrants: $25k → 14%Interfaith Comm for Detained Immigrants: $25k → 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

ME
NH
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
NV
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
LA
MS
AL
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 472 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

472 repeat relationships: 337 still active in FY2025, 135 since wound down; 45 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

472
136

Total granted

$28M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+12%

Still filing today

54%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $421k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureAnimalsHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • LP
    LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $325k · revenue +73%
  • DU
    DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $289k · revenue +22%
  • DU
    DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2021–2025 · $260k · revenue +11%

Funded once

  • LU
    Loyola University of Chgo
    one grant, 2021 · $104k
  • SL
    St Luke's Hospital Foundation
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
  • NR
    Natural Resources Defense Cncl
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
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 Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
2
Arise Chicago

Arise chicago builds partnerships between faith communities and workers to fight workplace injustice through education, organizing, and advocating for public policy changes.

Employment
3
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
4
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
5
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
6
Legal Aid Chicago

At legal aid chicago, we work together to provide high quality civil legal aid to people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.through advocacy, education, collaboration, and litigation we empower individuals, protect fundamental…

Crime & Legal
7
Center for Housing and Health

Chh honors every person's right to a home and health care, by bridging the housing and health care systems, to improve the lives of chicagoans experiencing homelessness.

Housing & Shelter
8
Chicago Refugee Coalition

The Chicago Refugee Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated ot the alleviation of human suffering through innovative partnerships, advocacy and community empowerment.

Human Services
9
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
10
House of the Good Shepherd

House of Good Shepherd serves with love and compassion women and children affected by domestic violence by offering a safe place with opportunities for emotional, educational and spiritual growth, giving hope and continued support for a…

Human Services
11
Live Free Chicago

Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…

—
12
Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Executive Service Corps is the premier nonprofit consultancy that engages highly skilled professionals who use their experience and expertise to provide nonprofits with the consulting services they need to be successful. Our vision is to…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Care for Real; the most unlike its peers is Enchanted Backpack. 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

337 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. 337 of the 656 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
55
Early backer (in before they grew)
333/337
Grantees still filing
232/337
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

+128 more: $13,700,880 · Other+128 moreBig Shoulders Fund: $1,028,492 · EducationBig Shoulders Fu…LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $429,500 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSIT…DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $289,000 · EducationDOMINICAN UNIVER…DEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $260,000 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSIT…Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers: $178,200 · EducationMidtown-Metro Ac…DEPAUL COLLEGE PREP FOUNDATION: $142,000 · EducationCristo Rey St Martin College Prep: $140,450 · EducationSAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY: $128,500 · Education+10 more: $665,250 · Education+10 moreMaryville Academy: $193,250 · Human ServicesMaryville…Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants: $118,500 · Human ServicesIllinois …THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $97,000 · Human ServicesSOUTH SUBURBAN PADS: $92,000 · Human ServicesMILESTONE INC: $86,500 · Human ServicesInspiration Corporation: $86,000 · Human ServicesASPIRITECH NFP: $85,500 · Human ServicesEquestrian Connection NFP: $85,000 · Human ServicesONE FAMILY ILLINOIS: $81,500 · Human ServicesTHE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED: $80,000 · Human ServicesCARE FOR REAL: $77,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $75,500 · Human ServicesTALLER DE JOSE: $72,250 · Human ServicesSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $70,500 · Human ServicesUCAN: $70,000 · Human ServicesCorazon A Corazon: $69,000 · Human ServicesJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $67,500 · Human Services+6 more: $326,500 · Human Services+6 moreLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $325,000 · AnimalsChicago Zoological Society: $247,500 · AnimalsFOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST (FACT INC): $115,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY: $115,000 · AnimalsINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $106,500 · AnimalsPERFORMING ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY: $100,000 · AnimalsANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND INC: $80,000 · AnimalsTUSCARAWAS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $78,350 · AnimalsThe Anti-Cruelty Society: $60,000 · AnimalsPAWS CHICAGO: $57,500 · AnimalsMERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT: $200,000 · Housing & ShelterWINGS PROGRAM INC: $133,600 · Housing & ShelterHOUSING FORWARD: $102,000 · Housing & ShelterCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS: $99,000 · Housing & ShelterSARAH'S CIRCLE: $80,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE LAKE COUNTY HAVEN: $80,000 · Housing & ShelterThe Resurrection Project: $60,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE BOULEVARD OF CHICAGO INC: $55,000 · Housing & ShelterOhioGuidestone: $125,000 · HealthLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $95,000 · HealthSt Bernard Hospital: $85,000 · HealthOLD IRVING PARK COMMUNITY CLINIC: $75,000 · HealthCANINE THERAPY CORPS INC: $70,000 · HealthPathways Foundation: $67,500 · HealthChildrens Oncology Services Inc: $65,000 · HealthNATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION: $60,000 · HealthSOLIDARITY BRIDGE INC: $55,500 · HealthFAMILIES OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY DBA CURE SMA: $52,900 · HealthGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $321,500 · Food & NutritionNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $319,500 · Food & NutritionFOOD GROUP MINNESOTA INC THE: $65,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$13,700,880Education$3,261,392Human Services$1,833,500Animals$1,284,850Housing & Shelter$809,600Health$750,900Food & Nutrition$706,000

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 budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $1,028,492 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $429,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $325,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $321,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $319,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $289,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $260,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Zoological Society: $247,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC: $220,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetMERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT: $200,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMaryville Academy: $193,250 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMidtown-Metro Achievement Centers: $178,200 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetTHE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $147,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $144,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDEPAUL COLLEGE PREP FOUNDATION: $142,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetCristo Rey St Martin College Prep: $140,450 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetWINGS PROGRAM INC: $133,600 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetProvidence St Mel School: $132,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetSAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY: $128,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $127,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetOhioGuidestone: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetIllinois Community for Displaced Immigrants: $118,500 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetAmerican Jesuits International Inc: $117,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE: $115,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetFOOD ANIMAL CONCERNS TRUST (FACT INC): $115,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetNATIONAL ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY: $115,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetUnlocking Communities Inc: $111,500 over 4y, 6.5% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $106,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetIMMIGRATION PROJECT INC: $105,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetHOUSING FORWARD: $102,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPERFORMING ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY: $100,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetThe Juvenile Justice Initiative Attn Elizabeth Clarke: $100,000 over 5y, 34% of budgetPACTT Learning Center: $100,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS: $99,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $97,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $95,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $93,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH SUBURBAN PADS: $92,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPEGASUS FARM: $87,500 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetBELLARMINE JESUIT RETREAT HOUSE INC: $87,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetCALUMET COLLEGE OF ST JOSEPH: $87,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMILESTONE INC: $86,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $86,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetASPIRITECH NFP: $85,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetEquestrian Connection NFP: $85,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetHOPE IGNITES CHICAGO: $85,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetSt Bernard Hospital: $85,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGreater Chicago Legal Clinic: $85,000 over 5y, 1.1% 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 Big Shoulders Fund ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Zoological Society ↗
  • Who funds MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds MERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT ↗
  • Who funds Maryville Academy ↗
  • Who funds Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds DEPAUL COLLEGE PREP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Cristo Rey St Martin College Prep ↗
  • Who funds WINGS PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds Providence St Mel School ↗

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.

Polk Bros Foundation …George M Eisenberg Fo…WP & HB White Foundat…Dr Scholl FoundationUnited Way of Metropo…The a Montgomery Ward…Circle of Service Fou…Robert R McCormick Fo…John D and Catherine …The Chicago Community…The Service Club of C…Andrew and Alice Fisc…
Polk Bros Foundation IncIL93.2× affinity55 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Polk Bros Foundation Inc · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · WP & HB White Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The a Montgomery Ward Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Service Club of Chicago · Andrew and Alice Fischer Charitable Trust

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 Helen V Brach Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helen V Brach Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • National Braille Press Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
58report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 656 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.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2026) is on record and reports $6.8M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2025, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Helen V Brach’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