· Private foundation
Law-Ware-Shedd-Murphy 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, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k1 grant · $500
- $10k–50k5 grants · $99k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Latin School of Chicago | $30,000 |
| WTTW | $30,000 |
| GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEP | $15,000 |
| FRIENDS OF 2ND PRES CHURCH | $14,000 |
| The Womans Board of Northwestern Me | $10,000 |
| Omena Historical Society | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 95% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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.
15 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 12 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, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $41k 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 DEPOSITORY6× · 2017–2022 · $140k · revenue +140%- IFILLINOIS FIRE SAFETY ALLIANCE4× · 2018–2024 · $46k · revenue +35%
- WTWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC2× · 2020–2025 · $33k · revenue +16%
Funded once
Lake Forest Collegegraduatedone grant, 2019 · $15k · revenue +58%- SCScripps Collegegraduatedone grant, 2017 · $11k · revenue +72%
- LPLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETYgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +73%
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.
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…
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.
To inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.
The lincoln children's museum invites children to create, discover and learn through the power of play.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.
Operation of a nautical history museum.
The operation of a children's museum.
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…
The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.
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.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
How this is measured
13 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. 13 of the 34 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 ILLINOIS FIRE SAFETY ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds THE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC ↗
- Who funds THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Lake Forest College ↗
- Who funds Scripps College ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Ronald McDonald House Global ↗
- Who funds TRAVERSE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA D/B/A TRAVERSE CITY PHILHARMONIC ↗
- Who funds Chicago Children's Museum ↗
- Who funds MASTERS SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE SEA LIONS INC DBA PACIFIC MARINE MAMMAL CENTER ↗
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 Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Law-Ware-Shedd-Murphy Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Law-Ware-Shedd-Murphy Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Law-Ware-Shedd-Murphy’s filings →