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Iff at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Iff

IFF strengthens nonprofits and the communities they serve by providing leadership, capital, and real estate solutions.- Leadership reflects our research, policy, sector work, and convening role- Capital includes a range of financial products: loans, New Markets Tax Credits, and equity - Real Estate Solutions includes a range of…

$4.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
89
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$297k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2024.

Education$46MHuman Services$30MArts & Culture$15MHousing & Shelter$14MHealth$13MCommunity Improvement$6.9MRecreation & Sports$3.5MReligion$911kOther$0
02FY2025 · 89 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $337k
  • $50k–250k68 grants · $3.6M
  • $250k+1 grant · $297k
$50,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$828M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Refugee Education Center$297,441
Oakdale Early Learning Center LLC$99,400
Wolverine Building Group$89,387
BD Meats Inc Yonder Meats$75,000
American Indian Center$75,000
B's Hometown Market$71,000
Technical Assistance Corporation$70,028
Paula Lampley Four Seasons Early Learn$55,917
Prairieland Market Inc$55,100
Black Girls Dance$52,000
Honey Pot Performance$50,000
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian$50,000
Free Spirit Media$50,000
Chicago Multicultural Dance Center$50,000
Water People Theater Group$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 (FY17–25, $8.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Milwood Commons: $139k → 12%Delta Economic Development Corporation: $62k → 16%Central Day Care Center: $148k → 7%Coburn Place SafeHaven II Inc: $6k → 16%Young Mens Christian Association of Kala: $75k → 12%Young Men's Christian Association of Lansing MI: $12k → 16%Urban Sprouts: $9k → 11%Young Mens Christian Association of Kalamazoo: $75k → 12%Uni-Pres Kindercottage: $52k → 16%Young Mens Christian Association of Monroe Mich: $150k → 10%Outreach Inc: $6k → 16%Voces: $70k → 14%Segundo Ruiz Belvis: $350k → 14%Young Mens Christian Association of Lans: $81k → 16%Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $75k → 14%Southwest Childcare Resources & Referral: $20k → 12%Apple Playschools: $149k → 14%Marvelous Lifestyles Outreach: $75k → 11%Marvelous Lifestyles Outreach: $75k → 11%Lawndale Community Day Care: $48k → 14%Lifebuilders: $501k → 21%Lifebuilders: $200k → 21%Rhemas Child Care Center: $66k → 21%The Village Learning Center: $150k → 11%Rhemas Child Care Center: $66k → 21%Starfish Family Services: $109k → 21%Starfish Family Services: $53k → 21%Starfish Family Services: $17k → 21%YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids: $85k → 11%YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids: $47k → 11%Trinity United Church of Christ Child Care: $70k → 14%Little Scholars: $65k → 21%Little Scholars of Detroit: $16k → 21%Carol Roberston Center for Learning: $58k → 14%Little Scholars: $10k → 21%Carole Robertson Center for Learning: $42k → 14%Children's Home & Aid Society of Illinois: $29k → 14%Breaking Ground Inc: $2.5M → 14%Breaking Ground Inc: $1.4M → 14%Breaking Ground: $712k → 14%Breaking Ground: $605k → 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

MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
IN
OH
PA
CA
MO
KS
AR
NC
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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$98M · 233 repeat orgs$39M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +12% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

233 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 223 since wound down; 79 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

233
612

Total granted

$98M
$35M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+3%

Still filing today

27%
6%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 14% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.6M 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentHousing & 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

  • MC
    MARYGROVE CONSERVANCY
    2× · 2019–2020 · $1.1M · revenue +190%
  • L
    LifeBUILDERS
    2× · 2017–2018 · $701k · revenue +22% · 40% of their budget
  • SS
    SOUTH SHORE DRILL TEAM & PERFORMING ARTS ENSEMBLE
    2× · 2021–2024 · $635k · revenue +110% · 85% of their budget

Funded once

  • HS
    Hope Starts Here
    one grant, 2020 · $1.9M
  • PC
    Phoenix Child Care & Academy
    one grant, 2023 · $300k
  • TC
    The Creative Child Place LLC
    one grant, 2023 · $279k
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
South Chicago Dance Theatre

South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) is a multicultural organization seamlessly fusing classical and contemporary dance styles as well as preserving historic dance work. With Choreographic Diplomacy at the heart of the organization, the…

Arts & Culture
2
Pegasus Theatre Chicago

Pegasus Theatre Chicago is a professional theater approaching 45 years of supporting Chicagos diverse community by producing accessible, socially relevant theatre and promoting the development of new artists for the stage. Our mission is…

—
3
Equity Arts

EQUITY ARTS is a center for the creative economy that advances racial equity and wealth-building for artists and entrepreneurs. This reparative ownership model preserves space for synergistic exchanges between value-aligned partners. The…

—
4
Classical Music Chicago

Presenting free high-quality classical music performances and music education experiences in the Chicago metropolitan area for people of all ages and degrees of musical awareness so they can experience how music enriches life.

Arts & Culture
5
Danceworks Chicago Inc Nfp

To build a foundation for the individual artistic growth of dancers and choreographers, providing a laboratory from which early career artists propel themselves and the art form to a new level through training, collaboration, mentorship,…

Arts & Culture
6
Theatre Y

Create connections between diverse artists seeking mutual growth through collaboration.

Arts & Culture
7
The Chicago High School for the Arts

The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…

Education
8
Chicago Sinfonietta Inc

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…

Arts & Culture
9
Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago

The mission of the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago is to collectively advance Black excellence in the work of the Black arts and culture sector.

Arts & Culture
10
Visceral Dance Chicago Nfp

Visceral Dance Chicago is a contemporary company dedicated to providing a comprehensive environment designed to cultivate dance education, creation and performance for choreographers, dancers, and artists.

Arts & Culture
11
The Ballet Chicago Company

Ballet Chicago is a professional track school of ballet that creates exceptional dancers. It makes classical ballet training accessible to all. Its founders Daniel Duell and Patricia Blair carry on George Balanchines legacy by providing…

—
12
Chicago Cultural Mile Association
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center; the most unlike its peers is Connecting Through the Arts and Edu. 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

167 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. 167 of the 924 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.

43
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
43
Early backer (in before they grew)
162/167
Grantees still filing
81/167
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

North Chicago School District 187: $40,482,807 · OtherNorth Chicago School District 187North West Housing Partnership: $5,210,773 · OtherNorth West Housing Partnership+139 more: $32,264,994 · Other+139 morePUERTO RICAN ARTS ALLIANCE: $635,000 · Arts & CulturePUERTO RICAN…AFRICA INTERNATIONAL HOUSE USA INC: $635,000 · Arts & CultureAFRICA INTER…BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CORPORATION: $635,000 · Arts & CultureBLACK ENSEMB…Jazz Institute of Chicago: $635,000 · Arts & CultureJazz Institu…NATIONAL MUSUEM OF PUERTO RICAN ARTS AND CULTURE: $635,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL MUS…THE DUSABLE BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER: $635,000 · Arts & CultureTHE DUSABLE …Deeply Rooted Productions Inc: $635,000 · Arts & CultureDeeply Roote…Natya Dance Theatre: $635,000 · Arts & CultureNatya Dance …MUNTU DANCE THEATRE: $425,000 · Arts & CultureThreewalls: $425,000 · Arts & CultureThe Musical Arts Institute: $425,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN INDIAN CENTER: $425,000 · Arts & CultureAsian Improv Arts Midwest: $425,000 · Arts & CultureETA CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION: $425,000 · Arts & CultureTeatro Vista Theater With a View Inc: $425,000 · Arts & CultureChicago West Community Music Center: $425,000 · Arts & CultureChicago City Theatre Company dba Joel Hall Dancers & Center: $425,000 · Arts & CultureCongo Square Theatre Company: $425,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $2,300,000 · Arts & Culture+10 moreBREAKING GROUND INC: $5,184,494 · Human ServicesLifeBUILDERS: $700,870 · Human ServicesSegundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $425,000 · Human Services+10 more: $1,480,087 · Human ServicesMARYGROVE CONSERVANCY: $1,120,234 · EducationLITTLE BLACK PEARL WORKSHOP: $635,000 · EducationMEMORIAL HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $150,000 · EducationSpringtide Education Initiatives: $150,000 · EducationGRAND RAPIDS CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS: $150,000 · EducationKINDERHAUS MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL OF MARSHALL: $149,510 · EducationMICHIGAN MONTESSORI INTENATIONALE INC: $149,143 · EducationNORTHERN MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ASSOCIATION: $149,039 · EducationLITTLE HANDS MONTESSORI INC: $135,555 · EducationFSG INC: $691,165 · Community ImprovementINNER-CITY MUSLIM ACTION NETWORK: $635,000 · Community ImprovementAMPLIFY GR: $558,565 · Community ImprovementFOUNDATION FOR HOMAN SQUARE F/K/A HOMAN ARTHINGTON FOUNDATION: $396,334 · Community ImprovementALLIES FOR COMMUNITY BUSINESS INC: $225,000 · Community ImprovementOAK PARK REGIONAL HOUSING CENTER INC: $432,819 · Housing & ShelterALTERNATIVES FOR GIRLS: $149,300 · Housing & ShelterCOTS: $147,160 · Housing & ShelterSOUTH SHORE DRILL TEAM & PERFORMING ARTS ENSEMBLE: $635,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$77,958,574Arts & Culture$11,630,000Human Services$7,790,451Education$2,788,481Community Improvement$2,506,064Housing & Shelter$729,279Recreation & Sports$635,000

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$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNorth West Housing Partnership: $5,210,773 over 4y, 98% of budgetBREAKING GROUND INC: $5,184,494 over 4y, 55% of budgetMARYGROVE CONSERVANCY: $1,120,234 over 2y, 12% of budgetLifeBUILDERS: $700,870 over 2y, 40% of budgetFSG INC: $691,165 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetSOUTH SHORE DRILL TEAM & PERFORMING ARTS ENSEMBLE: $635,000 over 2y, 85% of budgetINTERNATIONAL LATINO CULTURAL CENTER OF CHICAGO: $635,000 over 2y, 55% of budgetPUERTO RICAN ARTS ALLIANCE: $635,000 over 2y, 53% of budgetAFRICA INTERNATIONAL HOUSE USA INC: $635,000 over 2y, 60% of budgetBLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER CORPORATION: $635,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetJazz Institute of Chicago: $635,000 over 2y, 60% of budgetLITTLE BLACK PEARL WORKSHOP: $635,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetChicago Jazz Philharmonic: $635,000 over 2y, 97% of budgetNATIONAL MUSUEM OF PUERTO RICAN ARTS AND CULTURE: $635,000 over 2y, 23% of budgetTHE DUSABLE BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER: $635,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetINNER-CITY MUSLIM ACTION NETWORK: $635,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetDeeply Rooted Productions Inc: $635,000 over 2y, 61% of budgetNatya Dance Theatre: $635,000 over 2y, 40% of budgetGilloury Institute: $635,000 over 2y, 37% of budgetAMPLIFY GR: $558,565 over 2y, 20% of budgetOAK PARK REGIONAL HOUSING CENTER INC: $432,819 over 4y, 16% of budgetSegundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center: $425,000 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetMUNTU DANCE THEATRE: $425,000 over 2y, 47% of budgetThreewalls: $425,000 over 2y, 50% of budgetThe Musical Arts Institute: $425,000 over 2y, 68% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN CENTER: $425,000 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetAsian Improv Arts Midwest: $425,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetETA CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION: $425,000 over 2y, 58% of budgetTeatro Vista Theater With a View Inc: $425,000 over 2y, 9.1% of budgetChicago West Community Music Center: $425,000 over 2y, 33% of budgetSouth Side Community Art Center: $425,000 over 2y, 32% of budgetChicago City Theatre Company dba Joel Hall Dancers & Center: $425,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetWEST POINT FELLOWSHIP INC DBA WEST POINT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $425,000 over 2y, 54% of budgetRED CLAY DANCE COMPANY INC: $425,000 over 2y, 83% of budgetCongo Square Theatre Company: $425,000 over 2y, 68% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR HOMAN SQUARE F/K/A HOMAN ARTHINGTON FOUNDATION: $396,334 over 5y, 15% of budgetODC NETWORK: $247,990 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetCHICAGO BLUES MUSEUM: $230,000 over 2y, 97% of budgetSONES DE MEXICO ENSEMBLE: $230,000 over 2y, 39% of budgetCommunity Film Workshop: $230,000 over 2y, 90% of budgetMEXICAN FOLKLORIC DANCE COMPANY OF CHICAGO INC: $230,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetURBAN THEATER CHICAGO NFP: $230,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetCuerdas Clasicas Inc: $230,000 over 2y, 57% of budgetLIVE THE SPIRIT RESIDENCY: $230,000 over 2y, 50% of budgetASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF CREATIVE MUSICIANS: $230,000 over 2y, 89% of budgetNATIONAL CAMBODIAN MUSEUM & KILLING FIELDS MEMORIAL: $230,000 over 2y, 47% of budgetCAPOEIRA CHICAGO: $230,000 over 2y, 57% of budgetALLIES FOR COMMUNITY BUSINESS INC: $225,000 over 2y, 4.3% 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.

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.

Field Foundation of I…Gaylord and Dorothy D…The Richard H Driehau…Lloyd a Fry FoundationThe Seabury FoundationWalder FoundationAlphawood FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …Prince FoundationIllinois Humanities C…The Joyce FoundationLeague of Chicago The…
Field Foundation of IllinoisIL42× affinity32 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Field Foundation of Illinois · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · The Richard H Driehaus Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · The Seabury Foundation · Walder Foundation · Alphawood Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Prince Foundation · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · The Joyce Foundation · League of Chicago Theatres Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    29report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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 924 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 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

    Play a game based on Iff’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