Illinois · Private foundation
Leslie J Raffel Foundation
Its FY2026 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $3.4M
- Granted FY2026(still arriving)
- 9
- Grants FY2026
- 6
- Organizations funded FY2025
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2025
- Median grant, FY2026
- $201,922
- Largest grant, FY2026
- $1,983,745
- Organizations funded a year
- 1 to 9
- FY2019 to FY2025
- States reached, FY2026
- 2
- Total assets, FY2026
- $11M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2025, 50% of the organizations Leslie J Raffel Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 68% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 32% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $545k went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
EducationArts & CultureCivil RightsFood & NutritionOther
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.
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026still arriving | 6 | $3.4M | 33% |
| FY2025 | 6 | $803k | 50% |
| FY2024 | 3 | $70k | 0% |
| FY2023 | 4 | $206k | 50% |
| FY2022 | 9 | $111k | 67% |
| FY2021 | 6 | $47k | 50% |
| FY2020 | 3 | $41k | 67% |
| FY2019 | 1 | $6k | 0% |
100% classified
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2026.
Education$3.3MYouth Development$520kInternational$250kCivil Rights$206kScience & Tech$205kReligion$122kArts & Culture$70kHealth$32kOther$0
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2026, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana University Foundation | $2,483,745 | 1 | n/a |
| Purdue Research Foundation | $770,359 | 3 | 0% |
| All Stars Project Inc | $519,755 | 2 | n/a |
| American Friends of Hebrew University Inc | $250,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Anti-Defamation League | $205,544 | 4 | 0% |
| The Art Center of Highland Park | $60,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Trustees of Purdue University | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Hillel Foundation at Purdue | $32,912 | 6 | 6% |
| Am Shalom | $19,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | $4,000 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 12 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana University Foundation | $2,483,745 | 1 | n/a |
| Purdue Research Foundation | $770,359 | 3 | 0% |
| All Stars Project Inc | $519,755 | 2 | n/a |
| American Friends of Hebrew University Inc | $250,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Anti-Defamation League | $205,544 | 4 | 0% |
| The Art Center of Highland Park | $60,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Trustees of Purdue University | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Hillel Foundation at Purdue | $32,912 | 6 | 6% |
| Am Shalom | $19,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | $4,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Redwood Empire Food Bank | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Mettawa Open Lands Association | $100 | 1 | n/a |
Plus 9 recipients with no EIN on record ($338k), not named here.
About Leslie J Raffel Foundation
- How much does Leslie J Raffel Foundation give?
- Leslie J Raffel Foundation reported 9 grants totaling $3,447,343 in its FY2026 IRS filing. It funded between 1 and 9 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2025.
- What does Leslie J Raffel Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2026, its largest causes are Education (70%), Youth Development (11%), International (5%).
- Who are Leslie J Raffel Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2026: Indiana University Foundation ($2.5M), Purdue Research Foundation ($770k), All Stars Project Inc ($520k).
- Does Leslie J Raffel Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2025, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Leslie J Raffel Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Where is Leslie J Raffel Foundation based?
- Leslie J Raffel Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Leslie J Raffel’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