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Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc

The foundation's mission is to foster and facilitate increased civic leadership.

$16M
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$16M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$105MPublic Benefit$16MCommunity Improvement$225kArts & Culture$125kYouth Development$75kCivil Rights$50kEmployment$25k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$16,129,710
Median grant
1
States reached
$6.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEE INC$16,129,710
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 (FY17–17, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIDES CENTER: $25k → 10%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

IL
NY
CA
CO
MO
DE
NC
DC
HI
MS
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 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
Chiefs for Change

Chiefs for change accelerates progress in public education by building leaders and systems' capacity to provide young people with 21st-century experiences that prepare them for success on a pathway to economic and social mobility.

Education
2
Diversity Equity and Inclusivity Co

-

Civil Rights
3
New Classrooms Innovation Partners Inc

To create and inspire better ways to give every student an educational foundation for lifelong success. we imagine a world where every student attends a school that meets them where they are, adapts to the unique ways they learn, and…

Education
4
The Equity Network
—
5
Cityworks Dc

Our mission is to dramatically improve the early career outcomes of dc youth and young adults of color by creating innovative programs and by mobilizing employers, educators, and city leaders to create a local, diverse talent pipeline. our…

Education
6
Dallas Education Collective

To improve the Dallas public education system by raising and deploying capital to institutions in the most disadvantaged areas of the city.

Public Benefit
7
Embracing Equity Inc

Embracing equity cultivates the mindsets and practices necessary to create an affirming, inclusive, and equitable educational ecosystem.

Education
8
Laurel Leadership Institute

Identifies, develops and supports racially diverse public school leaders to serve as change agents to close the opportunity gap, through movement, building, growing talent pipelines for excellence in school leadership and advocacy.

Education
9
Dallas Kids First

Dallas kids first elevates dialogue on the impact of school board leadership for kids in dallas isd and supports school board elections with focus on outcomes for kids.

Human Services
10
Council for Court Excellence

Council for court excellence's (cce's) mission is to bring people together to conduct research, educate, and advocate to make d.c.'s unique legal systems more just, equitable, and accountable to the community.

—
11
Core Districts

To assist participating school districts to work together to innovate, implement and scale new strategies and tools to help students succeed and meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Education
12
Chicago Public Education Fund

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.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tides Center; the most unlike its peers is Drumming for Your Life Institute. 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

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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
13/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEE INC: $121,411,476 · EducationLEE INC+4 more: $125,000 · EducationDrumming for Your Life Institute: $75,000 · Arts & CultureSEVENTH WAVE MAGAZINE INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureSIDE PROJECT INC: $75,000 · Crime & LegalChicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc: $50,000 · Crime & LegalROSEDALE COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER: $50,000 · OtherCompanies for Causes: $25,000 · OtherALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: $25,000 · OtherMISSISSIPPI FIRST INC: $25,000 · OtherDREAM BUILDERS 4 EQUITY: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentPROFOUND GENTLEMEN INC: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentAUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES CENTER: $25,000 · Human Services
Education$121,536,476Arts & Culture$125,000Crime & Legal$125,000Other$125,000Youth Development$50,000Philanthropy$25,000Human Services$25,000

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 budgetLEE INC: $121,411,476 over 8y, 69% of budgetDrumming for Your Life Institute: $75,000 over 1y, 71% of budgetSIDE PROJECT INC: $75,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetTHE HADANOU COLLECTIVE: $50,000 over 1y, 9.3% of budgetROSEDALE COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 81% of budgetAUSTIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDigi-Bridge: $25,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetCompanies for Causes: $25,000 over 1y, 46% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMISSISSIPPI FIRST INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetDreamhouse Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 44% of budgetDREAM BUILDERS 4 EQUITY: $25,000 over 1y, 68% of budgetPROFOUND GENTLEMEN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 6.7% 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.

Walton Family Foundat…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Walton Family Foundation IncAR13.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Walton Family Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Side Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
5report 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.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc?

Find your warmest path to Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership Inc 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 17 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 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 Lee Foundation for Civic Leadership’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