Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation DossiersMostly funded, not a grantmaker — see who funds it →
Plinth

· Public charity

Illinois Environmental Council Education

To educate the public about environmental issues.

$335k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$325k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 61% of ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL EDUCATION’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $250k+1 grant · $325k
$325,288
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
URBAN LEAGUE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS$325,288
SOCIAL ECOLOGIES NANCE KLEHM$10,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY18–18, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%BRIGHT LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: $15k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

48%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$744k · 16 repeat orgs$805k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +164% since the first grant, against +35% for the ones you funded once.

16 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
20

Total granted

$744k
$479k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+164%
+35%

Still filing today

63%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 3% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $325k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentCommunity ImprovementReligionHousing & ShelterEmploymentHuman ServicesOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • EE
    Elevate Energy
    2× · 2022–2023 · $80k · revenue +51%
  • PF
    PEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY
    2× · 2018–2022 · $70k · revenue +832%
  • BN
    BIG NFP DBA Blacks in Green
    3× · 2018–2020 · $68k · revenue +382%

Funded once

  • L
    LVEJO
    one grant, 2018 · $75k
  • SE
    SOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCEgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +32%
  • GB
    GREEN BUILDING ALLIANCEgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $46k · revenue +52%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
2
California Environmental Justice Alliance

Our mission is to fight against fossil fuel executives and industries that have turned our communities into dumping grounds for toxic waste, poisoning our air, water, lan, and bodies. We organize to oppose giant oil refineries, dirty…

Environment
3
Energy Education Council

Enhancing lives by promoting the safe & efficient use of electricity.

Education
4
Community Builders Network of Metro St Louis

The Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis (CBN) is a coalition of community building organizations, including both place-based nonprofits and supporting partners. Our mission is to gather community leaders of all backgrounds to…

Community Improvement
5
Illinois Environmental Council Education

To educate the public about environmental issues.

Environment
6
Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality Northside

A mixed-income, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization that unites our diverse communities. We build collective power to eliminate injustice through bold and innovative community organizing. We accomplish this through developing…

—
7
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs

The Jewish Council on Urban Affair's (JCUA) longstanding mission is to combat poverty, racism and antisemitism working in partnership with diverse communities. JCUA uses a community organizing model to engage the Jewish community in the…

Community Improvement
8
Chicago United

To achieve parity in economic opportunity for people of color by advancing multiracial leadership in corporate governance, expanding the talent pipline for executive-level management, and growing minority businesses.

Philanthropy
9
Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc

Secure racial equity and economic opportunity for all

Crime & Legal
10
Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness

Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness (CCH) builds community power and advances racial equity through organizing, advocacy, legal assistance, and education to prevent and end homelessness because housing is a human right.

Housing & Shelter
11
Black Researchers Collective

The mission of the Black Researchers Collective is to advance racial equity by training and equipping communities with research tools to be more civically engaged and policy informed.

Community Improvement
12
Local Economic and Employment Development Council Inc

North Branch Works is a membership-supported nonprofit neighborhood organization that for more than three decades has promoted balanced, job-creating economic development along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Employment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and the most unlike its peers is Neighbors for Environmental Justice. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 27 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%0%<5yr14%12%5–10yr17%16%10–20yr17%24%20–35yr15%32%35–55yr17%16%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%0%<5yr14%8%5–10yr17%15%10–20yr17%21%20–35yr15%46%35–55yr17%11%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/26
the rest of the field
15%
5,107/33,329

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

25 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 25 of the 37 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/25
Grantees still filing
19/25
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

URBAN LEAGUE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $325,288 · OtherURBAN LEAGUE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUISIndividual grant recipient — $90,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientLVEJO — $75,263 · OtherLVEJOPEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY — $70,000 · OtherPEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERYIndividual grant recipient — $40,000 · OtherACRES 4 YOUTH — $40,000 · OtherCITIZENS UTILITY BOARD — $40,000 · OtherRESPIRATORY HEALTH ASSOCIATION — $37,000 · Other+11 more — $223,000 · Other+11 moreElevate Energy — $80,000 · EnvironmentElevate EnergySOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE — $50,000 · EnvironmentSOUTHEAST ENVIRONME…GREEN BUILDING ALLIANCE — $46,000 · EnvironmentGREEN BUILDING ALLI…SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $36,839 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLUB FOUNDAT…PRAIRIE RIVERS NETWORK — $35,350 · EnvironmentPRAIRIE RIVERS NETW…Neighbors for Environmental Justice — $10,000 · Environment+1 more — $8,000 · EnvironmentUNITED CONGREGATIONS OF METRO EAST — $47,000 · ReligionUNITED CO…FAITH IN PLACE — $47,000 · ReligionFAITH IN …SAMUEL DEWITT PROCTOR CONFERENCE INC — $40,000 · ReligionSAMUEL DE…FAITH COALITION FOR THE COMMON GOOD INC — $50,000 · Community ImprovementCHATHAM BUSINESS ASSOCIATION INC — $25,000 · Community ImprovementILLINOIS PEOPLES ACTION — $15,000 · Community ImprovementPILSEN NEIGHBORS COMMUNITY COUNCIL — $10,000 · Community ImprovementBIG NFP DBA Blacks in Green — $67,625 · Housing & ShelterBICKERDIKE REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $10,000 · Housing & ShelterCHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE — $15,000 · EmploymentBRIGHT LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE — $15,000 · Human Services
Other$940,551Environment$266,189Religion$134,000Community Improvement$100,000Housing & Shelter$77,625Employment$15,000Human Services$15,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $325,288 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetElevate Energy — $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY — $70,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetBIG NFP DBA Blacks in Green — $67,625 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetFAITH COALITION FOR THE COMMON GOOD INC — $50,000 over 3y, 8.1% of budgetSOUTHEAST ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE — $50,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetUNITED CONGREGATIONS OF METRO EAST — $47,000 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetFAITH IN PLACE — $47,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetGREEN BUILDING ALLIANCE — $46,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetSAMUEL DEWITT PROCTOR CONFERENCE INC — $40,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetCITIZENS UTILITY BOARD — $40,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetRESPIRATORY HEALTH ASSOCIATION — $37,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION — $36,839 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRAIRIE RIVERS NETWORK — $35,350 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetChicago Jobs Council — $30,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS — $30,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetCHATHAM BUSINESS ASSOCIATION INC — $25,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetILLINOIS PEOPLES ACTION — $15,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetCHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE — $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBICKERDIKE REDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHousing Action Illinois — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNeighbors for Environmental Justice — $10,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetPILSEN NEIGHBORS COMMUNITY COUNCIL — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMIDWEST ENERGY EFFICIENCY ALLIANCE — $8,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

United States Energy …The Energy FoundationThe Chicago Community…Illinois Environmenta…ForefrontArie and Ida Crown Me…Grand Victoria Founda…Builders Vision Found…Natural Resources Def…The Joyce FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …The Minneapolis Found…
United States Energy FoundationCA33.5× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United States Energy Foundation · The Energy Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Illinois Environmental Council General Fund · Forefront · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Grand Victoria Foundation · Builders Vision Foundation · Natural Resources Defense Council Inc · The Joyce Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The Minneapolis Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Illinois Environmental Council Education funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report 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

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 37 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines