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Hunter Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Hunter Family 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.

$11M
Granted FY2024still arriving
138
Grants FY2024still arriving
16
States reached
$3.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$7.3MArts & Culture$7.1MHealth$3.6MEnvironment$3.4MFood & Nutrition$1.3MScience & Tech$1.3MPhilanthropy$1.1MHuman Services$1.0MOther$0
02FY2024 · 138 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k24 grants · $94k
  • $10k–50k36 grants · $785k
  • $50k–250k76 grants · $6.7M
  • $250k+2 grants · $3.7M
$50,000
Median grant
16
States reached
$420M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION$3,035,000
NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$635,000
ERIE FAMILY HEALTH CENTER$200,000
METROSQUASH$200,000
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK$175,000
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$175,000
KIDS FIRST HEALTH CARE$150,000
MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER$150,000
START EARLY$150,000
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY CENTER MIDWEST$150,000
NATIONAL FISH AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION$150,000
COLLEGE OF LAKE COUNTY FOUNDATION$150,000
LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$150,000
KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED$125,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ILLINOIS$125,000
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 (FY19–24, $980k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 33% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $125k → 8%ILLINOIS NETWORK OF CHILD CARE RESOURCE: $25k → 11%TWICE AS NICE MOTHER & CHILD: $50k → 8%KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $45k → 8%KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $40k → 8%KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $40k → 8%KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $5k → 8%YWCA OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $75k → 14%THE DIGNITY PROJECT - SHOWERS FOR ALL: $5k → 12%MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $150k → 8%MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $50k → 8%MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $50k → 8%MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $35k → 8%MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $5k → 8%FRIENDS OF BOCA GRANDE COMMUNITY CENTER: $5k → 11%CAROLE ROBERTSON CENTER FOR LEARNING: $50k → 14%PHALANX FAMILY SERVICES: $4k → 14%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 8%SHARE OUR SPARE: $52k → 14%GARFIELD PARK RITE TO WELLNESS COLLAB: $100k → 14%ILLINOIS COMMUNITY OF DISPLACED IMMIGRANT: $10k → 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
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
VA
NC
DC
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 104 repeat orgs$2.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

104 repeat relationships: 87 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 47 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

104
41

Total granted

$28M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+21%

Still filing today

79%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.6M went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION
    6× · 2019–2024 · $6.7M · revenue +40%
  • II
    IMENTOR INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $850k · revenue +24%
  • EF
    Erie Family Health Center Inc
    6× · 2019–2024 · $850k · revenue +86%

Funded once

  • LF
    LAKE FOREST NORTHWESTERN HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2020 · $250k
  • NM
    NORTHWESTERN MEDICINELAKE FOREST HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2022 · $225k
  • TP
    The Phoenix Pact Fund
    one grant, 2019 · $200k · revenue +18% · 78% of their budget
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
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
2
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
3
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
4
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
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
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
7
American Water Works Association

To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.

Public Benefit
8
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
9
Children's Museum of Oak Park

To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.

Arts & Culture
10
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
11
Lincoln Park Conservancy

The mission of the lincoln park conservancy is to preserve and enhance the inspiring beauty of chicago's largest and most visited park for current and future generations. we believe that beauty matters. that it has the transformative power…

Recreation & Sports
12
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Center for Family Philanthropy Inc; the most unlike its peers is Uprising Theater. 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

143 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. 143 of the 197 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)
30
Early backer (in before they grew)
143/143
Grantees still filing
96/143
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $1,525,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONIndividual grant recipient: $1,252,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREP HS: $975,000 · OtherNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREP HSBUILD ON: $550,000 · OtherMETROSQUASH NFP: $705,000 · Other+112 more: $9,773,500 · Other+112 moreRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $6,660,000 · Arts & CultureRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIAT…+8 more: $548,000 · Arts & Culture+8 moreROOM TO READ: $800,000 · EducationROOM TO READCollege of Lake County Foundation: $750,000 · EducationCollege of L…North Chicago Community Partners: $210,000 · EducationNorth Chicag…The Phoenix Pact Fund: $200,000 · EducationThe Phoenix …THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL: $165,000 · EducationColby-Sawyer College: $150,000 · EducationWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $140,000 · EducationThe Partnership for College Completion: $125,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL INC: $115,000 · Education+19 more: $783,000 · Education+19 moreErie Family Health Center Inc: $850,000 · HealthKIDS FIRST HEALTH CARE: $405,000 · HealthPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $325,000 · HealthPARENTS AS TEACHERS NATIONAL CENTER INC: $205,000 · HealthPADS Lake County Inc: $200,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN INC: $90,000 · Health+3 more: $65,000 · HealthRARE: $455,000 · EnvironmentLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $300,000 · EnvironmentCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $226,000 · EnvironmentILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION: $205,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE HIGHWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY: $165,000 · EnvironmentBRUSHWOOD CENTER AT RYERSON WOODS: $160,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $145,000 · EnvironmentWINDWARD FUND: $125,000 · Environment+10 more: $290,000 · EnvironmentIMENTOR INC: $850,000 · Youth DevelopmentREADING POWER INC: $235,000 · Youth Development+4 more: $55,500 · Youth DevelopmentTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $465,000 · PhilanthropyTIPPING POINT COMMUNITY: $165,000 · PhilanthropyBOCA GRANDE HEALTH CLINIC FNDTN INC: $105,000 · PhilanthropyFOREFRONT: $100,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $80,000 · Philanthropy+5 more: $74,500 · Philanthropy
Other$14,781,000Arts & Culture$7,208,000Education$3,438,000Health$2,140,000Environment$2,071,000Youth Development$1,140,500Philanthropy$989,500

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 budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $6,660,000 over 6y, 5.7% of budgetIMENTOR INC: $850,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $850,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetROOM TO READ: $800,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCollege of Lake County Foundation: $750,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetMETROSQUASH NFP: $705,000 over 6y, 5.6% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $485,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $465,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetRARE: $455,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetNORTH LAWNDALE EMPLOYMENT NETWORK: $450,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES: $410,000 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetKIDS FIRST HEALTH CARE: $405,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $400,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $360,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $325,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSTART EARLY: $316,400 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetBRIDGES TO PROSPERITY INC: $310,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetKEEPING FAMILIES COVERED: $305,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $300,000 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetMANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $290,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetYOUTHBUILD LAKE COUNTY INC: $251,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $240,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S ADVOCACY & FAMILY RESOURCES INC: $240,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetREADING POWER INC: $235,000 over 6y, 4.4% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $226,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetNorth Chicago Community Partners: $210,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetPARENTS AS TEACHERS NATIONAL CENTER INC: $205,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION: $205,000 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff: $205,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetThe Phoenix Pact Fund: $200,000 over 1y, 78% of budgetPADS Lake County Inc: $200,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetLAKE COUNTY PARTNERSHIP FOR ECONOMIC DEV: $175,000 over 4y, 4.9% of budgetINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO: $175,000 over 6y, 2.5% of budgetTIPPING POINT COMMUNITY: $165,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HIGHWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY: $165,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetTHE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL: $165,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBRUSHWOOD CENTER AT RYERSON WOODS: $160,000 over 6y, 3.0% of budgetColby-Sawyer College: $150,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER: $145,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $145,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $140,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetIllinois Action for Children: $135,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCE: $135,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetLATINO POLICY FORUM: $130,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetThe Partnership for College Completion: $125,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $125,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBAY AREA DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $125,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $125,000 over 3y, 0.0% 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 RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds IMENTOR INC ↗
  • Who funds Erie Family Health Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds ROOM TO READ ↗
  • Who funds College of Lake County Foundation ↗
  • Who funds METROSQUASH NFP ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds THE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds RARE ↗
  • Who funds NORTH LAWNDALE EMPLOYMENT NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds ALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES ↗
  • Who funds KIDS FIRST HEALTH CARE ↗
  • Who funds The Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds Planned Parenthood of Illinois ↗
  • Who funds START EARLY ↗
  • Who funds BRIDGES TO PROSPERITY INC ↗
  • Who funds KEEPING FAMILIES COVERED ↗
  • Who funds LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds MANO A MANO FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds YOUTHBUILD LAKE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY & FAMILY RESOURCES INC ↗
  • Who funds READING POWER INC ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds North Chicago Community Partners ↗
  • Who funds PARENTS AS TEACHERS NATIONAL CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff ↗
  • Who funds The Phoenix Pact Fund ↗
  • Who funds PADS Lake County 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.

Circle of Service Fou…Hunter Family Foundat…John and Kathleen Sch…The Chicago Community…Harold M & Adeline S …The Gorter Family Fou…Vivo FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …United Way of Metropo…The Lake County Commu…The Buchanan Family F…Arie and Ida Crown Me…
Circle of Service FoundationIL49.1× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Circle of Service Foundation · Hunter Family Foundation · John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy · The Chicago Community Trust · Harold M & Adeline S Morrison Family Foundation · The Gorter Family Foundation · Vivo Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Lake County Community Foundation · The Buchanan Family Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 110%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Mote Marine Laboratory Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
37report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Hunter Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Hunter 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.

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 197 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Hunter Family’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