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· Private foundation

John & Susan Dewan Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$278k
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$118k
Largest
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 2025.

Education$1.0MInternational$397kHousing & Shelter$260kHuman Services$138kYouth Development$64kReligion$61kEmployment$56kHealth$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k23 grants · $98k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $63k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $118k
$5,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$936k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY$117,500
Olancho Aid Foundation$18,500
JOSEPHINUM ACADEMY of the Sacred Heart$17,000
KIWIMBI INTERNATIONAL$17,000
OUR LADY OF TEPEYAC HIGH SCHOOL$10,000
Jesuit Refugee Service USA$7,010
COOPERATIVE FOR EDUCATION$6,000
INKULULEKO$5,183
GRACIA INC$5,000
CREA$5,000
Adoption Center of Illinois$5,000
CARAVAN TO CLASS$5,000
SUNSAR MAYA$5,000
New Moms$5,000
CARE FOR FRIENDS$5,000
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 (FY19–25, $133k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ONE FAMILY INC: $1k → 16%HONDURAS GOOD WORKS: $3k → 10%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $3k → 14%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $3k → 14%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $3k → 14%INSPIRATION CORPORATION: $6k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING and Healing: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $5k → 14%INSPIRATION CORP: $4k → 14%INSPIRATION CORPORATION: $4k → 14%INSPIRATION CORPORATION: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $3k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING and Healing: $3k → 14%INSPIRATION CORPORATION: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $2k → 14%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $5k → 14%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $4k → 14%CARE FOR FRIENDS: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $2k → 14%THE WELL OF MERCY: $1k → 14%NEW MOMS: $10k → 14%NEW MOMS INC: $8k → 14%NEW MOMS INC: $5k → 14%NEW MOMS: $5k → 14%New Moms: $5k → 14%SISTERHOUSE: $4k → 14%SisterHouse: $4k → 14%SISTERHOUSE: $4k → 14%SISTERHOUSE: $3k → 14%THE HARBOUR INC: $6k → 14%THE HARBOUR INC: $5k → 14%THE HARBOUR INC: $4k → 14%THE HARBOUR INC: $4k → 14%The Harbour: $3k → 14%SISTERHOUSE: $3k → 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

AK
ND
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CA
MO
VA
MD
AZ
KS
SC
DC
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 13% of John & Susan Dewan Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 82% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 74%.

John & Susan Dewan Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 20% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 73 repeat orgs$122k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

73 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 46 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

73
25

Total granted

$2.0M
$117k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+56%
+14%

Still filing today

56%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterEducationReligionPhilanthropyOther
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

  • SV
    Spark Ventures
    6× · 2020–2025 · $51k · revenue +51%
  • KI
    KIWIMBI INTERNATIONALA NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $38k · revenue +145%
  • NM
    NEW MOMS INC
    6× · 2018–2025 · $36k · revenue +79%

Funded once

  • JA
    JOSEPHINUM ACADEMY
    one grant, 2022 · $45k
  • SN
    St Nicholas Cathedral School
    one grant, 2024 · $10k
  • KB
    KINO BORDER INITIATIVE INC
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
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
Erie Neighborhood House

Erie neighborhood house provides the most comprehensive support to immigrant and low-income families in chicago. our mission is to empower our communitylatinx immigrants alongside individuals and families of all backgroundsthrough…

Human Services
2
Latino Union of Chicago

Latino Union works to defend the rights and dignity of contingent workers, including the right to immigrate, work, live free of oppression and violence, and provide for oneself and one's family.

Human Services
3
Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness

Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness (CCH) builds community power and advances racial equity through organizing, advocacy, legal assistance, and education to prevent and end homelessness because housing is a human right.

Housing & Shelter
4
Onward Neighborhood House

We open doors to improve lives and uplift communities through educational, economic and support services.

—
5
Collective Chicago

To disrupt cycles of poverty with dignified transitional housing that hoslistically connects young men to opportunities that create and sustain personal, professional and relational growth.

Housing & Shelter
6
Enlace Chicago

Enlace Chicago convenes, organizes, and builds the capacity of little village stakeholders to confront systemic inequities and barriers to economic and social access. Enlace Chicago is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives…

Community Improvement
7
Chicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for

Providing academic support to children experiencing homelessness in Chicago and providing resources and services to families experiencing homelessness in Chicago.

Education
8
House of the Good Shepherd

House of Good Shepherd serves with love and compassion women and children affected by domestic violence by offering a safe place with opportunities for emotional, educational and spiritual growth, giving hope and continued support for a…

Human Services
9
Respond Now

Respond now connects those in need with health, hunger, and housing services in the chicago southland.

Human Services
10
Renaissance Social Services Inc

Renaissance Social Services (RSSI) is a unique organization that connects those in need with housing that is safe, quality and affordable. After helping clients attain housing RSSI provides them with comprehensive, flexible, client focused…

Human Services
11
Misioneros Del Camino Inc

Care for orphaned, abandoned, malnourished and developmentally disabled children in guatemala, c.a.

International
12
Upaya Social Ventures

Upaya Social Ventures' mission is to create dignified jobs for people living in extreme poverty by building scalable businesses with investment and consulting support.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connections for the Homeless Inc; the most unlike its peers is Paramedics for Children Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

54 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. 54 of the 99 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)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
50/54
Grantees still filing
41/54
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY: $740,000 · OtherCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMYOUR LADY OF TEPEYAC HIGH SCHOOL: $80,000 · OtherOUR LADY OF TEPEYAC HIGH SCHOOLJOSEPHINUM ACADEMY of the Sacred Heart: $51,500 · Other+55 more: $486,059 · Other+55 moreSpark Ventures: $50,835 · InternationalSpark VenturesKIWIMBI INTERNATIONALA NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION: $38,000 · InternationalKIWIMBI INTERNAT…Paramedics For Children Inc: $33,100 · InternationalParamedics For C…STRATEGIES FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: $30,500 · InternationalSTRATEGIES FOR I…Un Mundo: $28,000 · InternationalUn MundoCONCERN AMERICA: $23,000 · InternationalCONCERN AMERICAINKULULEKO INC: $19,183 · InternationalINKULULEKO INCHEALING ART MISSIONS: $17,500 · InternationalHEALING ART MISS…FRANCISCANS FOR THE WORLD: $17,500 · InternationalFRANCISCANS FOR …Carmen Pampa Fund: $16,500 · InternationalCarmen Pampa Fun…Unlocking Communities Inc: $12,500 · International+4 more: $16,500 · International+4 moreNEW MOMS INC: $36,042 · Human ServicesTHE HARBOUR INC: $24,500 · Human ServicesInspiration Corporation: $22,000 · Human ServicesSISTERHOUSE: $18,500 · Human ServicesCARE FOR FRIENDS: $18,500 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $18,500 · Human ServicesREVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING: $9,000 · Human ServicesHONDURAS GOOD WORKS: $6,000 · Human Services+3 more: $5,500 · Human ServicesDEBORAH'S PLACE: $21,500 · Housing & ShelterHOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN INC: $20,500 · Housing & ShelterLINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY SERVICES: $18,500 · Housing & ShelterSARAH'S CIRCLE: $17,000 · Housing & ShelterCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $15,500 · Housing & ShelterLA CASA NORTE: $12,000 · Housing & ShelterHOUSING FORWARD: $8,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $1,000 · Housing & ShelterCOOPERATIVE FOR EDUCATION: $26,500 · EducationSAN MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO SCHOOL INC: $25,000 · EducationOLANCHO AID FOUNDATION INC: $24,500 · EducationNICARAGUAN EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER: $5,000 · EducationCaravan to Class: $35,000 · PhilanthropySUNSAR MAYA INC: $13,500 · PhilanthropyGROWING HOME INC: $26,000 · Employment
Other$1,357,559International$303,118Human Services$158,542Housing & Shelter$114,000Education$81,000Philanthropy$48,500Employment$26,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSpark Ventures: $50,835 over 6y, 2.3% of budgetKIWIMBI INTERNATIONALA NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION: $38,000 over 6y, 3.3% of budgetNEW MOMS INC: $36,042 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCaravan to Class: $35,000 over 7y, 2.2% of budgetParamedics For Children Inc: $33,100 over 5y, 11% of budgetSTRATEGIES FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: $30,500 over 8y, 2.1% of budgetUn Mundo: $28,000 over 7y, 6.0% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR EDUCATION: $26,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetGROWING HOME INC: $26,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetSAN MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO SCHOOL INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE HARBOUR INC: $24,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetFRANCISCAN OUTREACH: $24,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetOLANCHO AID FOUNDATION INC: $24,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCONCERN AMERICA: $23,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $22,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetDEBORAH'S PLACE: $21,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN INC: $20,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetINKULULEKO INC: $19,183 over 6y, 8.4% of budgetSISTERHOUSE: $18,500 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetLINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY SERVICES: $18,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCARE FOR FRIENDS: $18,500 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $18,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetHEALING ART MISSIONS: $17,500 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetFRANCISCANS FOR THE WORLD: $17,500 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetSARAH'S CIRCLE: $17,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCarmen Pampa Fund: $16,500 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $15,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE: $15,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSUNSAR MAYA INC: $13,500 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC: $13,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUnlocking Communities Inc: $12,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetLA CASA NORTE: $12,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetKINO BORDER INITIATIVE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSt Leonard's Ministries: $10,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetREVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING: $9,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY MATTERS INC: $8,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetHOUSING FORWARD: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYWCA EvanstonNorth Shore: $7,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSACRED VALLEY HEALTH: $6,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetHONDURAS GOOD WORKS: $6,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetPUEBLO A PUEBLO: $5,500 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCONTEXTOS NFP: $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNICARAGUAN EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetI Grow Chicago NFP: $4,999 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPEDALS FOR PROGRESS: $4,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetIGNITE: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMICROFINANCING PARTNERS IN AFRICA: $2,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOME TO BELIEVE FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% 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 Spark Ventures ↗
  • Who funds KIWIMBI INTERNATIONALA NEW JERSEY NON PROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds NEW MOMS INC ↗
  • Who funds Caravan to Class ↗
  • Who funds Paramedics For Children Inc ↗
  • Who funds STRATEGIES FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ↗
  • Who funds Un Mundo ↗
  • Who funds COOPERATIVE FOR EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds GROWING HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds SAN MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HARBOUR INC ↗
  • Who funds FRANCISCAN OUTREACH ↗
  • Who funds OLANCHO AID FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CONCERN AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds Inspiration Corporation ↗
  • Who funds DEBORAH'S PLACE ↗
  • Who funds HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN INC ↗
  • Who funds INKULULEKO INC ↗
  • Who funds SISTERHOUSE ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds CARE FOR FRIENDS ↗
  • Who funds THE NIGHT MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds HEALING ART MISSIONS ↗
  • Who funds FRANCISCANS FOR THE WORLD ↗
  • Who funds SARAH'S CIRCLE ↗
  • Who funds Carmen Pampa Fund ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC ↗
  • Who funds NOURISHING HOPE ↗
  • Who funds SUNSAR MAYA INC ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC ↗

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.

Helen V Brach FoundationIL31.7× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Helen V Brach Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · WP & HB White Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Blowitz-Ridgeway Foundation · All Chicago Making Homelessness History · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Greater Chicago Food Depository · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Patrick and Anna M Cudahy Fund · Reva and David Logan Foundation · Robert R McCormick 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 John & Susan Dewan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John & Susan Dewan Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • One Family Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 John & Susan Dewan Foundation?

Find your warmest path to John & Susan Dewan 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 99 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

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