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Leon and Sharon Kaufman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Leon and Sharon Kaufman 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.

$90k
Granted FY2025still arriving
46
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$27k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$118kEducation$80kHuman Services$54kInternational$53kReligion$43kHealth$36kRecreation & Sports$20kArts & Culture$18kOther$0
02FY2025 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k44 grants · $52k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $38k
$500
Median grant
8
States reached
$280k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$27,458
JET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC$10,500
NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY$7,855
BRIARWOOD SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION$6,650
CENTRAL FUND OF ISRAEL$5,000
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM$3,500
Individual grant recipient$3,370
LAKE FOREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL$3,187
COLLEGE BOUND OPPORTUNITIES$2,900
NORTH SHORE CONGREGATION ISRAEL$2,165
LCHAIM CENTER FOR INSPIRED LIVING INC$1,546
PREP4GOLD$1,450
RISE 2 GREATNESS$1,356
STAKE CLUB CHARITABLE FOUNDATION$1,150
HALLIE225 FOUNDATION$1,077
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 (FY17–25, $80k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NORTH SHORE SENIOR CENTER: $116 → 14%NORTH SHORE SENIOR CTR: $30 → 14%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF THE DESERT: $500 → 11%OPERATION SAFE HOUSE: $200 → 11%ORGANIZATION FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SAFETY: $521 → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%BETWEEN FRIENDS: $100 → 14%FILL A HEART 4 KIDS: $140 → 8%FILL A HEART 4 KIDS: $100 → 8%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO: $100 → 14%JCC CHICAGO: $14k → 14%JCC CHICAGO: $5k → 14%JCC CHICAGO: $4k → 14%SHALVA: $300 → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $100 → 14%CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE: $100 → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $17k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $14k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $13k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $4k → 14%JCC CHICAGO: $2k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $1k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $334 → 14%JEWISH CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: $100 → 14%YISRAELINK ORGANIZATION INC: $2k → 14%SHALVA: $200 → 14%SHALVA: $200 → 14%SHALVA: $200 → 14%SHALVA: $100 → 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
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
TN
NC
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$465k · 71 repeat orgs$104k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

71 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 53 since wound down; 27 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

71
118

Total granted

$465k
$75k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+23%

Still filing today

65%
37%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $29k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthAnimalsInternationalEducationOther
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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    7× · 2017–2025 · $138k · revenue +13%
  • JC
    Jewish Community Centers of Chicago
    9× · 2017–2025 · $74k · revenue +20%
  • BS
    BRIARWOOD SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $59k · revenue +87%

Funded once

  • I
    ISRAELNOW
    one grant, 2024 · $21k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $4k
  • IE
    ISRAELNOW EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $4k · revenue -39%
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
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
2
The Jewish Agency for Israel

The jewish agency binds jews across ideologies and civilizations together in a worldwide jewish family with israel at its center. it provides the global framework for aliyah, ensures global jewish safety, strengthens jewish identity and…

—
3
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
4
Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles Inc

Bje enhances the quality of, increases access to, and encourages participation in jewish education throughout the jewish communities of greater los angeles. bje is an advocate, planner, catalyst, and creative leader for strengthening and…

Religion
5
Museum of Jewish Heritage a Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The museum of jewish heritage - a living memorial to the holocaust is new york's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. see schedule o for additional information.

Arts & Culture
6
Jewish Federation Council of Greater La

Based on jewish values, the jewish federation of greater los angeles convenes and leads the community and leverages its resources to assure the continuity of the jewish people, support a secure state of israel, care for jews in need here…

Philanthropy
7
Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

Jcrc-ny builds relationships to advance the values, interests and security of the new york jewish community and to create a more interconnected new york for all.

Civil Rights
8
American Friends of Hebrew University Inc

Support the hebrew univ. of jerusalem, israel's foremost center of higher edu. & research.

International
9
Minneapolis Jewish Federation

Minneapolis jewish federation is a nonprofit organization that promotes a culture of philanthropy, leverages resources to meet local and global jewish needs, and facilitates community planning to ensure a thriving and secure future.

Philanthropy
10
Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles

We steward $1.5 billion in charitable assets through donor-advised funds, endowments, and other giving vehicles. partnering with 1,400 individuals, families, and organizations, we build enduring legacies and multigenerational impact. in…

Philanthropy
11
Jewish Communal Fund

To facilitate and promote philanthropy through donor advised funds.

Philanthropy
12
Hebrew Academy of Cleveland

The mission of the hebrew academy is to imbue all students with a love of god, torah and eretz yisroel and to prepare them to achieve excellence in torah and general knowledge based on successful cooperation among family, judaic and…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Feed Israel Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Rolling Dog Farm. 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

116 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. 116 of the 221 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)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
112/116
Grantees still filing
71/116
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ISRAELNOW: $20,700 · OtherISRAELNOWNATIONAL MS SOCIETY: $17,247 · OtherNATIONAL MS SOCIETYCONGREGATION BETH EL: $10,872 · OtherCONGREGATION BETH ELUS COMMITTEE SPORTS FOR MACC: $10,640 · OtherUS COMMITTEE SPORTS FOR MACCNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $7,855 · Other+143 more: $118,640 · Other+143 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $137,628 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROP…ADAM DON FOUNDATION: $5,300 · Philanthropy+6 more: $1,729 · PhilanthropyBRIARWOOD SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $58,541 · EducationBRIARWOOD SCHOLA…COLLEGE BOUND OPPORTUNITIES: $19,975 · EducationCOLLEGE BOUND OP…+6 more: $3,500 · EducationJewish Community Centers of Chicago: $74,202 · Human ServicesJewish Communit…+13 more: $5,907 · Human Services+13 moreCentral Fund of Israel: $15,000 · InternationalHOPE FOR THE SILENT VOICES: $9,200 · InternationalISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE: $7,316 · InternationalAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $7,010 · InternationalFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $2,909 · International+3 more: $2,056 · InternationalJET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC: $17,000 · ReligionL CHAIM CENTER FOR INSPIRED LIVING INC: $1,546 · ReligionThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $6,500 · Arts & CultureISRAELNOW EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $3,859 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $1,906 · Arts & CultureHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $550 · Arts & CultureRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $500 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $1,139 · Arts & Culture
Other$185,954Philanthropy$144,657Education$82,016Human Services$80,109International$43,491Religion$18,546Arts & Culture$14,454

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%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $137,628 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetJewish Community Centers of Chicago: $74,202 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetBRIARWOOD SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $58,541 over 9y, 5.9% of budgetCOLLEGE BOUND OPPORTUNITIES: $19,975 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetJET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC: $17,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetCentral Fund of Israel: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE FOR THE SILENT VOICES: $9,200 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $7,855 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE: $7,316 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $7,010 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $6,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetADAM DON FOUNDATION: $5,300 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetISRAELNOW EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $3,859 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $3,198 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $3,187 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $2,909 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER WELLNESS CENTER: $2,825 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NORA PROJECT: $2,729 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSUMMER CAMP OPPORTUNITIES PROMOTE EDUCATION INC: $2,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYISRAELINK ORGANIZATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $1,906 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC: $1,876 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetChi Am Circle Club: $1,300 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetYOUTHBUILD LAKE COUNTY INC: $1,273 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSPECIAL KIDS NETWORK INC: $1,250 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC: $1,186 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSTAKE CLUB CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $1,150 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $1,150 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT EFFECT CHARITIES: $1,069 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetSHALVA INC: $1,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSEPHARDIC GAN TORAT EMET INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE A CHILD'S HEART FOUNDATION US INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Chest Foundation: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILDLIFE SOS: $975 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKESHET: $937 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR ENRICHED LIVING INC: $700 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $650 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREENFIELD FAMILY FOUNDATION INC: $600 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetNorthwestern University: $595 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $550 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLockwood Animal Rescue Center: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetZaka Tel-Aviv Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCamp for All Kids: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIMERMAN ANGELS: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOutreach with Lacrosse Schools: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLast Chance for Animals: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $500 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.

  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds Jewish Community Centers of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds BRIARWOOD SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE BOUND OPPORTUNITIES ↗
  • Who funds JET - JEWISH EDUCATION TEAM INC ↗
  • Who funds Central Fund of Israel ↗
  • Who funds HOPE FOR THE SILENT VOICES ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds ISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC ↗
  • Who funds The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ↗
  • Who funds ADAM DON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ISRAELNOW EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds LAKE FOREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES ↗
  • Who funds CANCER WELLNESS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds THE NORA PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds SUMMER CAMP OPPORTUNITIES PROMOTE EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds YISRAELINK ORGANIZATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MACCABI USA INC ↗
  • Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS 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.

Jewish Federation of …AbbVie FoundationBaxter International …Goodman Family FundThe Atkins Family Fou…Jbs FoundationSacks Family Foundati…Kovler Family Foundat…Baird Foundation IncRosslevee Charitable …Peter and Carol Goldm…The Bill Bass Foundat…
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL27.2× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · AbbVie Foundation · Baxter International Foundation · Goodman Family Fund · The Atkins Family Foundation · Jbs Foundation · Sacks Family Foundation · Kovler Family Foundation · Baird Foundation Inc · Rosslevee Charitable Foundation · Peter and Carol Goldman Family Foundation · The Bill Bass 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 Leon and Sharon Kaufman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Leon and Sharon Kaufman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    21report 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 Leon and Sharon Kaufman Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Leon and Sharon Kaufman 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 221 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Leon and Sharon Kaufman’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