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Kovler Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Kovler Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$5.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
191
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$2.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$7.6MHealth$6.0MRecreation & Sports$5.0MPhilanthropy$3.4MArts & Culture$1.5MHuman Services$1.2MAnimals$823kInternational$383kOther$0
02FY2024 · 191 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k140 grants · $382k
  • $10k–50k37 grants · $567k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $851k
  • $250k+5 grants · $3.8M
$3,000
Median grant
19
States reached
$35M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Eisenhower Medical Center$2,008,149
The University of Chicago$770,223
Chicago Parks Foundation$400,000
PCD Foundation$353,333
Jewish United Fund of Metro Chicago$281,000
Prostate Cancer Foundation$220,000
Invest For Kids Inc$175,000
Teach for America$100,000
American Israel Education Foundatio$100,000
US Holocaust Memorial Museum$55,500
Milken Institute$50,000
Joffrey Ballet$50,000
Museum of Contemporary Art$50,000
Northwestern Mem Hospital-Kovler Ce$50,000
Shirley Ryan Ability Lab$40,000
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 (FY20–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Loaves Fishes Community Services: $8k → 7%Shalom Tikvah: $13k → 11%Loaves Fishes Community Services: $8k → 7%Shalom Tikvah: $13k → 11%Loaves Fishes Community Services: $4k → 7%Shalom Tikvah: $13k → 11%Loaves Fishes Community Services: $4k → 7%Shalom Tikvah: $10k → 11%Loaves Fishes Community Services: $4k → 7%Shalom Tikvah: $10k → 11%Al Otro Lado: $10k → 11%Baltimore Hunger Project: $4k → 11%Al Otro Lado: $10k → 11%Baltimore Hunger Project: $4k → 11%Al Otro Lado: $10k → 11%Baltimore Hunger Project: $4k → 11%Baltimore Hunger Project: $4k → 11%Baltimore Hunger Project: $4k → 11%FarmLink Project: $4k → 14%FarmLink Project: $4k → 14%Brigid Alliance: $3k → 17%Night Ministry: $3k → 14%Night Ministry: $3k → 14%UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago: $2k → 14%Family Focus: $4k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $3k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $3k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $3k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $3k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $3k → 14%Support Advocates for Women: $5k → 14%Support Advocates for Women: $3k → 14%Support Advocates for Women: $3k → 14%Family Focus: $4k → 14%Family Focus: $4k → 14%Share Our Spare: $4k → 14%Share Our Spare: $3k → 14%Share Our Spare: $3k → 14%Support Advocates for Women: $5k → 14%Support Advocates for Women: $5k → 14%Night Ministry: $3k → 14%Night Ministry: $3k → 14%Night Ministry: $3k → 14%Invest For Kids Inc: $175k → 14%Invest For Kids Inc: $175k → 14%Invest For Kids Inc: $171k → 14%Invest For Kids Inc: $150k → 14%Invest For Kids Inc: $145k → 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

NH
MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
SC
DC
LA
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$25M · 196 repeat orgs$581k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +37% for those funded once.

196 repeat relationships: 169 still active in FY2024, 27 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

196
45

Total granted

$25M
$417k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+37%

Still filing today

74%
87%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $164k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • University of Chicago
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.9M · revenue +52%
  • CP
    CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $4.9M · revenue +15% · 36% of their budget
  • EM
    Eisenhower Medical Center
    4× · 2020–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +66%

Funded once

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -50%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM
    one grant, 2023 · $70k · revenue -51%
  • MT
    McCallum Theatre
    one grant, 2022 · $45k
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
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
2
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
3
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
4
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
5
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
6
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.

—
7
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
8
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
9
National Opinion Research Center

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…

Social Science
10
The Chicago Bar Foundation

The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.

Education
11
Children's Museum of Oak Park

To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.

Arts & Culture
12
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

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…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Humanities Council Inc; the most unlike its peers is Homes for Heroes Foundation. 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

205 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. 205 of the 264 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
43
Early backer (in before they grew)
203/205
Grantees still filing
150/205
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Chicago: $5,880,436 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTeach for America Inc: $500,000 · EducationTeach for America IncACADEMY FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP CHARTER SCHOOL: $400,000 · Education+21 more: $731,500 · Education+21 moreCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $4,900,000 · Recreation & SportsCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDAT…+5 more: $97,000 · Recreation & SportsJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,803,500 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND…DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,138,165 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHAR…PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $870,000 · PhilanthropyPROSTATE CANCER FO…+10 more: $456,000 · Philanthropy+10 moreEisenhower Medical Center: $2,111,149 · HealthEisenhower Medica…PCD KS FOUNDATION: $1,323,333 · HealthPCD KS FOUNDATIONRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $200,000 · Health+18 more: $439,750 · Health+18 moreLurie Children's Foundation: $301,000 · OtherLurie Children'…DIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $150,000 · OtherNorthwestern Mem Hospital-Kovler Ce: $150,000 · OtherLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $794,562 · OtherLINCOLN PARK ZO…+98 more: $2,259,330 · Other+98 moreMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $388,496 · Arts & CultureThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $270,750 · Arts & CulturePALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $159,000 · Arts & CultureTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $152,500 · Arts & CultureINTONATION MUSIC WORKSHOP: $70,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Children's Museum: $70,000 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $138,000 · Arts & CultureInvest for Kids Inc: $816,000 · Human ServicesShalom Tikvah Inc: $57,500 · Human Services+13 more: $189,000 · Human Services
Education$7,511,936Recreation & Sports$4,997,000Philanthropy$4,267,665Health$4,074,232Other$3,654,892Arts & Culture$1,298,746Human Services$1,062,500

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetUniversity of Chicago: $5,880,436 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $4,900,000 over 4y, 36% of budgetEisenhower Medical Center: $2,111,149 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,803,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetPCD KS FOUNDATION: $1,323,333 over 5y, 35% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $1,138,165 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $870,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetInvest for Kids Inc: $816,000 over 5y, 9.3% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $794,562 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $500,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetACADEMY FOR GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP CHARTER SCHOOL: $400,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $388,496 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $270,750 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFrancis W Parker School: $246,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $200,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $159,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $152,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $128,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDESERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $102,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MILKEN INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $100,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLEGACY CHARTER SCHOOL: $91,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetIMERMAN ANGELS: $87,500 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $80,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $80,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $70,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTONATION MUSIC WORKSHOP: $70,000 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetALEXS LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION: $70,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Children's Museum: $70,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $58,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetShalom Tikvah Inc: $57,500 over 5y, 6.4% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLICOLOR INC: $50,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetProvidence St Mel School: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetBETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE DRAGONFLY FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetErikson Institute: $44,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLYNN SAGE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION: $40,350 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetTHE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $40,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $40,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Youth Centers: $40,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM SPRINGS AND DESERT AREA: $36,250 over 4y, 0.7% 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.

Jewish Federation of …Circle of Service Fou…The Chicago Community…Polk Bros Foundation …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Jarvis FoundationSacks Family Foundati…John D and Catherine …Lloyd a Fry FoundationThe Robert Thomas Bob…United Way of Metropo…Imc Chicago Charitabl…
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL69.3× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Circle of Service Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Jarvis Foundation · Sacks Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Imc Chicago Charitable 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 Kovler Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kovler Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 35%
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Inc: 35% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
58report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Kovler Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Kovler Family 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 264 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 Kovler Family’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