· Private foundation
Holson Family Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k12 grants · $61k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| RAGSDALE | $10,000 |
| NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $7,500 |
| TAKE THE LEAD | $7,500 |
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $7,500 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $7,500 |
| DANCE WORKS CHICAGO | $5,000 |
| CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER | $5,000 |
| FIRST TEE TIME OF GREATER CHICAGO | $5,000 |
| PULMONARY FIBROSIS FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| CHRIST CHURCH OF LAKE FOREST | $3,000 |
| SANTA FE OPERA | $2,500 |
| RIVERSIDE PREPARATORY ACADEMY | $2,500 |
| TUNNELS TO TOWERS | $2,500 |
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 86% 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 +58% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
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 FY2025, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LOLyric Opera of Chicago6× · 2020–2025 · $45k · revenue +34%
- TTTAKE THE LEAD INC6× · 2020–2025 · $38k · revenue +58%
- CSCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER6× · 2020–2025 · $30k · revenue +8%
Funded once
- RFRagdale Foundationone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -26%
- PDPILGRIM DOBERMAN PINSCHER CLUB INCone grant, 2020 · $5k
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $2k · revenue +59%
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.
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.
Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
Opera theatre's mission is to shape a vibrant future for opera by connecting, inspiring, and entertaining our communities through the power and beauty of the art form; to foster the next generation by empowering a diverse group of artists,…
Mission: the mission of san diego opera is to deliver exceptional performances and exciting, accessible programs to diverse audiences, focusing on community partnerships, and the transformative and expressive power of the human voice. as…
Chicago Sinfonietta is a professional orchestra dedicated to modeling and promoting diversity, inclusion, and both racial and cultural equity in the arts through the universal language of symphonic music. Our core values are built around…
The florentine opera company is driven to produce the full range of operatic works reflecting the highest musical and theatrical standards, and to support community and education programs that foster the current and next generation of…
To be north carolina's state orchestra, an orchestra achieving the highest level of artistic quality and performance standards, and embracing its dual legacies of statewide service and music education.
Cedille Chicago, NFP is devoted to the activity of producing and marketing recordings of classical music by Chicago-area musicians and composers.
The mission of the st. louis symphony orchestra (slso) is to enrich lives through the power of music. the slso provides orchestra concerts, community programs, and educational resources for the st. louis community and beyond.
As the artist-training branch of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Ryan Opera Center offers year-round education and performance opportunities to some of the nation's most talented young singers and pianists, facilitating their transition from…
The chicago theatre group is committed to producing both classic and contemporary works giving full voice to a wide range of artists and visions. by dedicating itself to three guiding principles - quality, equity, and community - the…
How this is measured
13 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. 13 of the 22 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.
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds TAKE THE LEAD INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗
- Who funds THE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE SANTA FE OPERA ↗
- Who funds RIVERSIDE MILITARY ACADEMY INC ↗
- Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds Ragdale Foundation ↗
- Who funds STAR of Coastal Georgia Inc ↗
- Who funds PILGRIM DOBERMAN PINSCHER CLUB INC ↗
- Who funds PULMONARY FIBROSIS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION 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.
Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Holson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Holson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Holson Family’s filings →