Skip to content
James and Susan Bere Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

James and Susan Bere Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$142k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$92k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Philanthropy$756kInternational$464kReligion$384kYouth Development$313kHealth$142kEducation$68kHuman Services$61kArts & Culture$32kOther$0
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$92,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$366k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE THEDACARE FAMILY OF FOUNDATIONS$92,000
CHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIES$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 72% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ALEXANDRIA TECHNICAL COLLEGE: $24k → 9%PRESBYTERIAN FRONTIER FELLOWSHIP: $17k → 11%SPECIAL OLYMPICS: $4k → 14%CHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIES: $50k → 8%FOLB FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%WILKES-EKBORN FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%CARENET: $1k → 16%ALLEGRO ORGANIZATION SOLUTIONS: $2k → 16%NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL FUND: $1k → 14%EASTER SEALS: $1k → 8%CALVIN COLLEGE: $5k → 11%DEER CREEK OPEN SPACE ASSOCIATION: $1k → 15%YOUNG LIFE: $100k → 9%DEPAUW UNIVERSITY: $7k → 10%PAWS: $5k → 8%REAL CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%WILKES-EKBORN FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%CHRISTIANITY TODAY: $10k → 7%LAWNDALE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $51k → 14%WELLNESS HOUSE: $2k → 7%GRANT PARK ORCHESTRA: $2k → 14%HINSDALE COMMUNITY HOUSE: $2k → 7%LAWNDALE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $25k → 14%SALVATION ARMY: $5k → 7%ANCHOR CROSS SOCIETY: $5k → 14%DUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $5k → 7%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 14%CHRIST CHURCH OF OAK BROOK: $205k → 7%ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $8k → 14%CHRIST CHURCH OF OAK BROOK: $25k → 7%CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $8k → 14%TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS: $3k → 7%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $5k → 14%ALL GOD'S CHILDREN ORPHANAGE: $5k → 7%WTTW: $5k → 14%BY THE HAND FOR KIDS: $13k → 14%SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITY LAB: $25k → 14%SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITY LAB: $15k → 14%JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: $5k → 14%OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL INC: $100k → 14%PACIFIC GARDEN MISSION: $3k → 14%BIG SHOULDERS FUND: $2k → 14%CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $5k → 14%CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF ROBERT BERE' FUND: $252k → 14%CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF LYNN & ROBERT STINE FUND: $251k → 14%CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF PAUL & BECKY SIGFUSSON FUND: $251k → 14%MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%ELIM CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $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

WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
IA
IN
CA
CO
KY
VA
DC
MS
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.

36%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$679k · 7 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +54% since the first grant, against +41% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
52

Total granted

$679k
$1.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+41%

Still filing today

43%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $142k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’20’21’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsReligionAnimalsOther
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

  • YL
    YOUNG LIFE
    3× · 2017–2020 · $313k · revenue +59%
  • RI
    Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
    2× · 2017–2018 · $40k · revenue +31%
  • EC
    ELIM CHRISTIAN SERVICES
    2× · 2017–2018 · $11k · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • CC
    CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF ROBERT BERE' FUND
    one grant, 2018 · $252k
  • CC
    CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF LYNN & ROBERT STINE FUND
    one grant, 2018 · $251k
  • CC
    CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF PAUL & BECKY SIGFUSSON FUND
    one grant, 2018 · $251k
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
Dallas International University

As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.

Education
2
Loyola University

Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work…

Education
3
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
4
Evangel University

Evangel is a comprehensive christian university that is committed to excellence in educating and equipping students to become spirit empowered servants of god who will impact the church and society globally.

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
6
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
7
Taylor University

The mission of Taylor University is to develop servant-leaders marked with a passion to minister Christ's redemptive love, grace, and truth to a world in need.

Education
8
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
9
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.

—
10
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
11
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
12
Fielding Graduate University

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Young Life; the most unlike its peers is Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. 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

32 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. 32 of the 63 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/32
Grantees still filing
27/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF ROBERT BERE' FUND: $251,512 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF ROBERT BERE' FUNDCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF LYNN & ROBERT STINE FUND: $251,362 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF LYNN & ROBERT STINE FUNDCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF PAUL & BECKY SIGFUSSON FUND: $251,240 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION DAF PAUL & BECKY SIGFUSSON FUNDCHRIST CHURCH OF OAK BROOK: $230,000 · OtherCHRIST CHURCH OF OAK BROOKLAWNDALE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $76,000 · OtherLAWNDALE COMMUNITY CHURCHCHRISTIAN LIFE MINISTRIES INC: $50,000 · Other+38 more: $170,315 · Other+38 moreWORLD VISION INC: $362,248 · InternationalWORLD VISION INCOPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL INC D/B/A OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL-US: $100,000 · InternationalOPPORTUNITY INTERNATION…+1 more: $2,000 · InternationalYOUNG LIFE: $313,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG LIFEThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc: $92,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $2,000 · PhilanthropyRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $40,000 · HealthWellness House: $2,000 · Health+1 more: $200 · HealthELIM CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $11,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $7,500 · EducationDePauw University: $7,000 · EducationCALVIN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 · EducationIOWA LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationBig Shoulders Fund: $2,000 · Education+2 more: $1,500 · EducationPRESBYTERIAN FRONTIER FELLOWSHIP: $17,000 · ReligionChristianity Today International: $10,000 · Religion
Other$1,280,429International$464,248Youth Development$313,000Philanthropy$94,000Health$42,200Education$39,000Religion$27,000

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 budgetWORLD VISION INC: $362,248 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $313,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThedaCare Family of Foundations Inc: $92,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPRESBYTERIAN FRONTIER FELLOWSHIP: $17,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetELIM CHRISTIAN SERVICES: $11,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetChristianity Today International: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDePauw University: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCALVIN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Zoological Society: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAWS INC: $4,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetTIMOTHY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWellness House: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetREAL CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ROBERT CROWN CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDEER CREEK OPEN SPACE ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetThe Moody Bible Institute of Chicago: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREEDOM GOLF ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAPLES YACHT CLUB BLUE GAVEL SCHOLARSHIP SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $100 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.

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.

David and Karen Bere …The Chicago Community…The Brandsma Family F…Arthur J Gallagher Fo…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Natl Christian Charit…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…The Blackbaud Giving …American Endowment Fo…Charities Aid Foundat…Morgan Stanley Global…
David and Karen Bere FoundationDE15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: David and Karen Bere Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Brandsma Family Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 James and Susan Bere Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to James and Susan Bere 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 63 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.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on James and Susan Bere 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