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James and Catherine Denny Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

James and Catherine Denny 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
40
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$5.5MReligion$1.6MFood & Nutrition$585kArts & Culture$462kHealth$365kPhilanthropy$294kHuman Services$238kPublic Benefit$167kOther$0
02FY2024 · 40 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k12 grants · $57k
  • $10k–50k23 grants · $499k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $580k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$25,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DePaul College Prep$250,000
Catholic Extension$247,848
Chicago Jesuit Academy$157,320
Illinois Policy Institute$125,000
Adler Planetarium$50,000
Chicago Jesuit Academy$30,097
Chicago Jesuit Academy$29,791
Catholic Extension$27,152
Chicago Jesuit Academy$26,350
Saints Faith Hope & Charity$25,500
Academy for Urban School Leadership$25,000
Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation$25,000
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab$25,000
American Enterprise Institute$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
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, $155k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%metropolitan family services: $20k → 14%COMMUNITY HOUSE: $100 → 14%Clearbrook: $25k → 14%Clearbrook: $25k → 14%Clearbrook: $25k → 14%Clearbrook: $25k → 14%Clearbrook: $25k → 14%YMCA of Metro Chicago: $5k → 14%Children's Home and Aid Society: $5k → 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

ID
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IN
CT
VA
MD
DC
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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.9M · 47 repeat orgs$780k to everyone else

47 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

47
53

Total granted

$8.9M
$685k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+23%

Still filing today

53%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $95k 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
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesPhilanthropyHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • Teach for America Inc
    6× · 2018–2024 · $188k · revenue +1%
  • AE
    AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
    6× · 2018–2024 · $150k · revenue +22%
  • IP
    ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
    2× · 2019–2024 · $126k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • CB
    CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CHICAGO
    one grant, 2020 · $205k
  • CC
    CATHOLIC CHARITIES INC
    one grant, 2018 · $148k
  • HM
    Holocaust Museum & Education Center
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
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
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
2
Saint Xavier University

Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…

Education
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
United States Naval Institute

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.

—
5
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
8
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
9
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
10
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
11
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
12
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Empower Illinois; the most unlike its peers is Rumsfeld Foundation. 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

50 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. 50 of the 106 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
50/50
Grantees still filing
36/50
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY: $4,396,786 · OtherCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMYCATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL UNION: $957,442 · OtherCATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL UNIONCATHOLIC CHURCH EXTENSION SOCIETY OF US OF AMER: $585,269 · OtherCATHOLIC CHURCH EXTENSION SOCIETY OF US OF AMER+67 more: $2,160,745 · Other+67 moreTeach for America Inc: $187,500 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $95,000 · EducationMARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $89,750 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $55,000 · EducationACADEMY FOR URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: $35,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $29,000 · EducationCOLLEGE OF SAINT BENEDICT: $27,500 · EducationMidtown-Metro Achievement Centers: $25,000 · Education+5 more: $9,000 · EducationTHE ADLER PLANETARIUM: $125,000 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of Chicago: $100,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $35,000 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $30,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $26,000 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $26,000 · Arts & CultureUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $100,000 · PhilanthropyHOBE SOUND COMMUNITY CHEST INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyRUMSFELD FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyLOBLOLLY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $22,500 · Philanthropy+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyCLEARBROOK: $125,000 · Human ServicesMetropolitan Family Services: $20,000 · Human Services+3 more: $10,100 · Human ServicesAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $150,000 · Social ScienceRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $125,000 · HealthBRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Health
Other$8,100,242Education$552,750Arts & Culture$402,000Philanthropy$178,500Human Services$155,100Social Science$150,000Health$150,000

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 budgetTeach for America Inc: $187,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $150,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE: $125,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCLEARBROOK: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ADLER PLANETARIUM: $125,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $100,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $100,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $95,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $89,750 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $55,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $45,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetACADEMY FOR URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: $35,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $35,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHOBE SOUND COMMUNITY CHEST INC: $30,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $29,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE OF SAINT BENEDICT: $27,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $26,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRUMSFELD FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetMidtown-Metro Achievement Centers: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLOBLOLLY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $22,500 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetMETROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA/THE IRELAND FUNDS): $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLUMEN CHRISTI INSTITUTE: $20,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING: $17,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CIVIC FEDERATION: $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY: $6,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetLewis University: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN WRITERS MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRINITY COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANTERBURY SCHOOL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAID FOR WOMEN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF MARTIN COUNTY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEMPOWER ILLINOIS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $500 over 1y, 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 Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds CLEARBROOK ↗
  • Who funds THE ADLER PLANETARIUM ↗
  • Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS ↗
  • Who funds ACADEMY FOR URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP ↗
  • Who funds Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry ↗
  • Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds HOBE SOUND COMMUNITY CHEST INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE OF SAINT BENEDICT ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗

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.

Patrick G and Shirley…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Chicago Community…The Canning FoundationCharles H and Beverly…Robert R McCormick Fo…The Robert Thomas Bob…John D and Catherine …Lavin Family Foundati…The Ayco Charitable F…The King Family Found…Carol Bernick Family …
Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan FoundationIL26.2× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · The Canning Foundation · Charles H and Beverly E Shaw Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Lavin Family Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · The King Family Foundation · Carol Bernick Family 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 James and Catherine Denny Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from James and Catherine Denny Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • United Way of Martin County Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 106 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 James and Catherine Denny’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