· Public charity
Illinois Policy Institute
The institute is a free market oriented think tank dedicated to gathering, disseminating, and educating illinois constituents on local, state, and federal public policy issues facing illinois.
Read this first · the figures below need context
100% of Illinois Policy Institute’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Bradley Impact Fund Inc, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| BRADLEY IMPACT FUND | $700,000 |
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 56% 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
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 82% of Illinois Policy Institute’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 17% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 50%.
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 +420% since the first grant, against +40% for those funded once.
3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2021, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (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 FY2021, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $13k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FNFRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATION2× · 2017–2018 · $1.3M · revenue +420% · 52% of their budget
- LJLIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER3× · 2017–2020 · $235k · revenue +797% · 27% of their budget
- AIAMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA2× · 2017–2020 · $9k · revenue +135%
Funded once
- TFTHINK FREELY MEDIAone grant, 2017 · $425k · revenue -98% · 26% of their budget
- CFCENTER FOR COMMON SENSE IN SCIENCEgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $204k · revenue +40%
- CCCHICAGO CLASSIC ACADEMYone grant, 2017 · $7k
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.
Promote competition that protects consumers, businesses, and society.
Inform the public by providing news
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Trusting News improves the quality of news reporting by studying trust in news and training and coaching journalists to demonstrate credibility and actively earn trust. Their work equips thousands of journalists every year to better…
The institute is a free market oriented think tank dedicated to gathering, disseminating, and educating illinois constituents on local, state, and federal public policy issues facing illinois.
The organization provides public education on artificial intelligence.
The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.
The center is a non-partisan public policy institution established by former president richard nixon. its current programs focus on energy, security, climate change and u.s. relations with china, japan, russia and the middle east.
The Organization's mission is to restore trust in government by holding officials and groups accountable for corrupt and unethical behavior through investigation, legal action, and reporting.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 11 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.
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: Donors Trust Inc · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Illinois Policy Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Illinois Policy Institute. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Illinois Policy Institute’s filings →