Skip to content
Keystone Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Keystone Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$8k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$165kScience & Tech$100kEnvironment$24kHousing & Shelter$6kAnimals$3kArts & Culture$3kHuman Services$2kReligion$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$55k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CONSERVATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE$4,606
STERLING COLLEGE$1,500
HISTORY CENTER OF LAKE FORESTLAKE BLUFF$1,000
MUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO$500
RAGDALE FOUNDATION$500
NORTHERN IL FOOD BANK$206
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 (FY17–23, $8k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $2k → 8%ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $2k → 8%ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $1k → 8%ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $750 → 8%THE ROBERTI COMMUNITY HOUSE: $258 → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $200 → 8%MOTHER'S TRUST FOUNDATION: $500 → 8%MOTHER'S TRUST FOUNDATION: $500 → 8%MOTHER'S TRUST FOUNDATION: $500 → 8%FILL A HEART 4 KIDS: $256 → 8%GORTON COMMUNITY CENTER: $250 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
WY
IN
TN
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$295k · 11 repeat orgs$12k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
26

Total granted

$295k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+29%

Still filing today

82%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationArts & CultureAnimalsReligionInternationalOther
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 ACADEMY
    4× · 2018–2023 · $144k · revenue +49%
  • MS
    MASTERS SCHOOL
    3× · 2019–2023 · $2k · revenue +43%
  • MT
    Mothers Trust Foundation
    3× · 2018–2020 · $2k · revenue +174%

Funded once

  • ZE
    ZAMBEZI ELEPHANT FUND - GLOBAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
    one grant, 2018 · $1k
  • LC
    LAKE COUNTY FOREST PRESERVE
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • LI
    LAKELIGHT INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
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 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
2
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.

—
3
Lakewood Theatre Company

To inspire and nurture a love of theatre and the arts with the following mission: the maintenance of a permanent multi-arts and theatre facility. the sponsorship and coordination of education and cultural programming in visual arts,…

Arts & Culture
4
Leadership Indianapolis Inc

Educate, Inspire, Connect and Mobilize Community Leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis.

Public Benefit
5
Institute for Conservation Leadership

To support healthy communities and a healthy earth, the institute for conservation leadership strengthens leaders, organizations, coalitions and networks.

Community Improvement
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
Lake Champlain Land Trust Inc

The mission of the lake champlain land trust is to save the scenic beauty, natural communities, and recreational amenities of lake champlain by permanently preserving significant islands, shoreline areas, and natural communities in the…

Environment
8
Lycee Francais de Chicago Inc

The Lycee Francais de Chicago, driven by our core values of respect, responsibility and the joy of learning, empowers students to grow into active global citizens.

Education
9
Harvard-Westlake School

Harvard-westlake strives to be a diverse and inclusive community united by the joyful pursuit of educational excellence, living and learning with integrity, and purpose beyond ourselves.

Education
10
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
11
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.

—
12
Chicago Waldorf School

Providing and promoting waldorf education from early childhood through the twelfth grade and promoting waldorf education through community outreach.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lake Forest Country Day School; the most unlike its peers is The Roberti Community House. 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

26 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. 26 of the 40 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
15/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAKE FOREST ACADEMY: $143,500 · EducationLAKE FOREST ACADEMYSTERLING COLLEGE: $12,060 · EducationSTERLING COLLEGE+1 more: $500 · EducationBRAIN CHEMISTRY LABS: $100,000 · OtherBRAIN CHEMISTRY LABSCONSERVATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $22,593 · OtherCONSERVATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE+22 more: $10,982 · Other+22 moreThe Roberti Community House: $6,008 · Human ServicesMothers Trust Foundation: $1,500 · Human ServicesGorton Community Center: $450 · Human Services+1 more: $256 · Human ServicesMETROSQUASH NFP: $6,000 · Recreation & SportsINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $515 · AnimalsLIVING WITH WOLVES LTD: $500 · AnimalsREWILD: $500 · AnimalsLAKELIGHT INSTITUTE: $1,000 · ReligionDAILY AUDIO BIBLE: $185 · ReligionRagdale Foundation: $500 · Arts & CultureMUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $500 · Arts & CultureINDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $129 · Arts & Culture
Education$156,060Other$133,575Human Services$8,214Recreation & Sports$6,000Animals$1,515Religion$1,185Arts & Culture$1,129

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 ACADEMY: $143,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSTERLING COLLEGE: $12,060 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Roberti Community House: $6,008 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMETROSQUASH NFP: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMASTERS SCHOOL: $1,800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMothers Trust Foundation: $1,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE FOREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRANE FOUNDATION INC: $515 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT HOOD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $515 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIVING WITH WOLVES LTD: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRagdale Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREWILD: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGorton Community Center: $450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $412 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFILL A HEART 4 KIDS: $256 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $208 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSCHOOL YEAR ABROAD INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDAILY AUDIO BIBLE: $185 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMercy Ships International: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $129 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST FOUNDATION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $50 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.

The Chicago Community…Little Orchard Founda…John and Kathleen Sch…Butler Family Foundat…The Ayco Charitable F…Hedberg Foundation IncClarks Fork FoundationThe Gorter Family Fou…Hunter Family Foundat…Harold M & Adeline S …Hunter Family Foundat…Hunting Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL25.9× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Little Orchard Foundation · John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy · Butler Family Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Hedberg Foundation Inc · Clarks Fork Foundation · The Gorter Family Foundation · Hunter Family Foundation · Harold M & Adeline S Morrison Family Foundation · Hunter Family Foundation · Hunting 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 Keystone Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Keystone Charitable 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%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Sterling College: 10% of 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 · 0–75%
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 40 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.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Keystone’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