Illinois · Private foundation
John and Gwen Smart 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.
- $4.1M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 19
- Grants FY2025
- 13
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 23%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $100,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $800,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 13 to 19
- FY2019 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 5
- Total assets, FY2025
- $39M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 23% of the organizations John and Gwen Smart Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 11% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $200k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 16 | $3.0M | 19% |
| FY2024 | 13 | $1.9M | 23% |
| FY2023 | 13 | $2.0M | 8% |
| FY2022 | 15 | $2.2M | 7% |
| FY2021 | 16 | $1.8M | 6% |
| FY2020 | 19 | $2.0M | 32% |
| FY2019 | 19 | $2.2M | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usher III Initiative Inc | $2,585,000 | 6 | 46% |
| New York Women's Foundation Inc | $2,570,000 | 7 | 4% |
| California Rangeland Trust | $971,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Santa Barbara Botanic Garden | $900,000 | 5 | 3% |
| The Rogosin Institute Inc | $820,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Creativity Explored Inc | $756,000 | 7 | 4% |
| The Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary | $750,000 | 7 | 42% |
| Cornell University | $530,895 | 6 | 0% |
| American Nurses Foundation Inc | $460,000 | 2 | 3% |
| Women in Need Inc | $454,105 | 7 | 0% |
Show all 26 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 8 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.8M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
John and Gwen Smart Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 5 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 21 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: The San Francisco Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
About John and Gwen Smart Foundation
- How much does John and Gwen Smart Foundation give?
- John and Gwen Smart Foundation reported 19 grants totaling $4,055,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 13 and 19 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2024.
- What does John and Gwen Smart Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (34%), Health (17%), Environment (14%).
- Who are John and Gwen Smart Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2019 to FY2025: Usher III Initiative Inc ($2.6M), New York Women's Foundation Inc ($2.6M), California Rangeland Trust ($971k).
- Does John and Gwen Smart Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 23% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does John and Gwen Smart Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as John and Gwen Smart Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The San Francisco Foundation, American Endowment Foundation, Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc.
- Where is John and Gwen Smart Foundation based?
- John and Gwen Smart Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on John and Gwen Smart’s filings →