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Jean and Cameron Brown Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Jean and Cameron Brown 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.

$10k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Religion$25kEducation$8kEnvironment$8kPhilanthropy$7kArts & Culture$7kHealth$7kCivil Rights$3kInternational$350Other$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$205k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT$10,000
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 (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 18% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE THACHER SCHOOL: $3k → 10%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $200 → 17%VOTE SMART: $200 → 10%ST JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $1k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $2k → 8%FIELD MUSEUM: $500 → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION: $200 → 19%BRAIN CHEMISRTY LABS: $200 → 5%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $150 → 17%ST JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $150 → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $1k → 8%FIELD MUSEUM: $500 → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $1k → 8%FIELD MUSEUM: $350 → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $1k → 8%LAKE BLUFF OPEN LANDS: $500 → 8%WTTW: $500 → 14%LAKE BLUFF OPEN LANDS: $250 → 8%WTTW: $300 → 14%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $10k → 8%WTTW: $300 → 14%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $6k → 8%WTTW: $200 → 14%LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $5k → 8%CHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $3k → 14%VARIOUS CHARITIES: $3k → 8%THE ORIENTAL INSTITUE: $2k → 14%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $3k → 8%THE ORIENTAL INSTITUE: $2k → 14%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $3k → 8%THE ORIENTAL INSTITUE: $1k → 14%VARIOUS CHARITIES: $2k → 8%THE ORIENTAL INSTITUE: $1k → 14%LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $2k → 8%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $2k → 8%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $2k → 8%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $2k → 8%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $1k → 8%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $1k → 8%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $1k → 8%VARIOUS CHARITIES: $1k → 8%THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $1k → 8%LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $1k → 8%CITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $500 → 8%VARIOUS CHARITIES: $350 → 8%CITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $250 → 8%CITADEL THEATRE: $200 → 8%CITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $200 → 8%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.
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.
$64k · 14 repeat orgs$6k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
5

Total granted

$64k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+31%

Still filing today

50%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • LF
    LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2021–2024 · $8k · revenue +30%
  • Lake Forest College
    4× · 2019–2022 · $6k · revenue +58%
  • FM
    FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
    4× · 2019–2022 · $1k · revenue +28%

Funded once

  • CA
    CHICAGO ABORTION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue +82%
  • TT
    The Thacher School Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $3k · revenue +31%
  • CT
    CITADEL THEATRE
    one grant, 2019 · $200
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
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.

—
2
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
3
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago

Achieving international impact through world-class research and education in fundamental computer science and information technology.

Education
4
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
5
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
6
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
7
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
8
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
9
Chicago Zoological Society

To inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.

Animals
10
Colorado Museum of Natural History

Be a catalyst! Ignite our community's passion for nature and science.

Arts & Culture
11
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
12
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Field Museum of Natural History; the most unlike its peers is Citadel Theatre Company. 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

10 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. 10 of the 19 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
9/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: $25,250 · OtherCHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRITVARIOUS CHARITIES: $6,777 · OtherVARIOUS CHARITIESPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $5,200 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODIndividual grant recipient: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSTRATFORD FESTIVAL OF AMERICA: $2,725 · OtherSTRATFORD FESTIVAL OF AMERICACHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $2,500 · Other+5 more: $1,700 · OtherLake Forest College: $5,500 · EducationLake Forest C…The Thacher School Inc: $2,500 · EducationThe Thacher S…University of Illinois Foundation: $300 · EducationLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $7,500 · EnvironmentLAKE FOREST …FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1,450 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $1,300 · Arts & CultureCITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $950 · Arts & CultureST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $1,300 · Health
Other$49,152Education$8,300Environment$7,500Arts & Culture$3,700Health$1,300

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 budgetLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLake Forest College: $5,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO ABORTION FUND: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Thacher School Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1,450 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $1,300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $1,300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $950 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $300 over 2y, 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 LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Lake Forest College ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO ABORTION FUND ↗
  • Who funds The Thacher School Inc ↗
  • Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds CITADEL THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds University of Illinois Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN POLITICS ↗

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.

Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Jean and Cameron Brown Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Jean and Cameron Brown Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%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
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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 19 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Jean and Cameron Brown’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