Skip to content
Lesnik Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lesnik Charitable 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.

$134k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$42k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Education$540kPhilanthropy$156kArts & Culture$113kYouth Development$87kCivil Rights$70kHealth$61kRecreation & Sports$56kHuman Services$56kOther$0
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $107k
$5,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$873k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION$41,667
THE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO$25,000
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION DIVISION OF INDEPENDENT PRACTICE$20,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$20,000
JUPITER MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION$7,500
CHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONOLULU$5,000
CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN$5,000
OLD ELM SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION$2,500
CHICAGO POLICE FOUNDATION$2,500
CROHNS & COLITIS FOUNDATION$2,500
LINCOLN PARK ZOO$2,000
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 (FY17–24, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%Family Resource Center: $5k → 14%Smart Love Parenting Center: $3k → 14%YMCA of Metro Chicago: $5k → 14%SMART LOVE PARENTING CENTER: $4k → 14%SMART LOVE PARENTING CENTER: $4k → 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

WA
IL
NY
MA
CT
RI
VA
NC
DC
HI
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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 31 repeat orgs$96k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 23 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
16

Total granted

$1.2M
$66k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+20%

Still filing today

81%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k 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
EducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyHuman ServicesHealthPublic BenefitOther
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
    9× · 2017–2025 · $155k · revenue +13%
  • CU
    CHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONOLULU
    9× · 2017–2025 · $105k · revenue +43%
  • University of Chicago
    3× · 2021–2023 · $100k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • NORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue -40%
  • ES
    Evans Scholarship Fund
    one grant, 2017 · $15k
  • PA
    PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
3
Loyola University of Chicago

We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.

Education
4
Saint Xavier University

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…

Education
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
9
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
10
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
11
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
12
Junior Achievement of Chicago

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

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Horticultural Society; the most unlike its peers is Wake Forest University. 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

37 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. 37 of the 52 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
37/37
Grantees still filing
26/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $199,800 · OtherEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATIONTHE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO: $104,500 · OtherTHE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGOAdoption Center of Illinois: $25,000 · OtherAMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION DIVISION OF INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: $20,000 · OtherTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $37,500 · OtherTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS+27 more: $158,950 · Other+27 moreCHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONOLULU: $105,000 · EducationCHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONO…University of Chicago: $100,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoBig Shoulders Fund: $25,000 · EducationBig Shoulders FundWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $22,000 · EducationWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITYTeach for America Inc: $20,000 · EducationTeach for America IncTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $17,500 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $15,500 · EducationSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $12,500 · Education+1 more: $250 · EducationJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $155,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED …Jupiter Medical Center Foundation Inc: $7,500 · Philanthropy+1 more: $500 · PhilanthropyTHE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION: $78,500 · Recreation & SportsAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $70,000 · Civil RightsNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $8,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $1,500 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $38,500 · Environment
Other$545,750Education$317,750Philanthropy$163,000Recreation & Sports$78,500Civil Rights$70,000Arts & Culture$39,500Environment$38,500

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 budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $155,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONOLULU: $105,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $100,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION: $78,500 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $70,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $38,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $37,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $22,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOLD ELM SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $17,500 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $17,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $15,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN OVERSEAS MEMORIAL DAY ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $12,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJupiter Medical Center Inc: $10,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSMART LOVE PARENTING CENTER: $9,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $9,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJupiter Medical Center Foundation Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC: $7,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY RESOURCE CENTER D/B/A ADOPTION CENTER OF ILLINOIS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBERNIE'S BOOK BANK: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD VISION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSKOKIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $200 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 CHAMINADE UNIVERSITY OF HONOLULU ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds THE FIRST TEE OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS ↗
  • Who funds Big Shoulders Fund ↗
  • Who funds WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds OLD ELM SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTICUT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN OVERSEAS MEMORIAL DAY ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC ↗
  • Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SKIDMORE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Jupiter Medical Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds SMART LOVE PARENTING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Jupiter Medical Center Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds CROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago ↗
  • Who funds BUILD INC ↗
  • Who funds FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER D/B/A ADOPTION CENTER OF ILLINOIS ↗
  • Who funds The Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) ↗
  • Who funds BERNIE'S BOOK BANK ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO POLICE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING ↗

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 …Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Chicago Community…National Philanthropi…Charities Aid Foundat…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL13.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Lesnik Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lesnik Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Jupiter Medical Center Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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.

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 52 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 Lesnik’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