· Private foundation
Kathleen and David Kennedy 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k10 grants · $25k
- $10k–50k11 grants · $235k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CRISTO REY ST MARTIN PREP | $60,000 |
| MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION | $35,000 |
| LOYOLA ACADEMY | $31,250 |
| GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITARY | $30,000 |
| ST MARY'S CHURCH | $25,000 |
| LOYOLA ACADEMY | $23,750 |
| CATHOLIC CHARITIES | $20,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $20,000 |
| TUNNEL TO TOWERS | $20,000 |
| KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT | $10,000 |
| COLLEGE OF LOYOLA UN CHGO | $10,000 |
| SONORAN INSTITUTE | $10,000 |
| BY THE HAND CLUBS FOR KIDS | $5,000 |
| ANGEL CHARITY FOR CHILDREN | $5,000 |
| HOPE IGNITES CHICAGO | $4,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 40% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.
27 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY7× · 2019–2025 · $155k · revenue +78%
STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION5× · 2021–2025 · $115k · revenue +112%
SMILE TRAIN INC4× · 2019–2022 · $70k · revenue +26%
Funded once
- ACARRUPE COLLEGEone grant, 2021 · $20k
- COCOLLEGE OF LOYOLAone grant, 2022 · $10k
- NUNORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY-KELLOGG SCHone grant, 2019 · $5k
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.
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.
The GI Research Foundation works to treat, prevent, and cure digestive diseases. In collaboration with the physicians and scientists at the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Center, we fund innovative clinical and laboratory…
Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.
Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.
A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.
To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy
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…
Achieving international impact through world-class research and education in fundamental computer science and information technology.
We value excellence and innovation in clinical and basic research, coordinated and comprehensive patient care, ongoing physician education, and evidence-based child advocacy. our goal is to provide leadership in endeavors that promote the…
Thrive chicago's mission is to prepare chicago's youth for a vibrant future by aligning efforts and outcomes from cradle to career.
See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…
Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
How this is measured
17 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. 17 of the 41 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SMILE TRAIN INC ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HOPE IGNITES CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds THE SONORAN INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds By The Hand Club For Kids ↗
- Who funds Mothers Trust Foundation ↗
- Who funds LUMEN CHRISTI INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds Angel Charity for Children Inc ↗
- Who funds BRAVO WAUKEGAN ↗
- Who funds THE PINK AGENDA INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL PSORIASIS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC ↗
- Who funds CLEARBROOK ↗
- Who funds YOUTH JOB CENTER 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.
Open a dossier: AbbVie Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · WP & HB White Foundation · Helen V Brach Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Kathleen and David Kennedy Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kathleen and David Kennedy Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Kathleen and David Kennedy Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Kathleen and David Kennedy 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.
Play a game based on Kathleen and David Kennedy’s filings →