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Marc and Kathy Gordon Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Marc and Kathy Gordon Family 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.

$158k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0182% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$1.1MYouth Development$246kPublic Safety & Disaster$150kReligion$130kFood & Nutrition$115kArts & Culture$50kInternational$25kHealth$15kOther$0
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $58k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$88k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND$100,000
SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK$25,000
LOTUS MOON MEDITATION CENTER$18,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 84% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ST MARYS FOOD BANK: $5k → 11%UNICEF: $5k → 17%BBYO: $50k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $53k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $200k → 14%ST MARYS FOOD BANK: $5k → 11%UNICEF: $5k → 17%BBYO: $50k → 14%BLUE LOTUS BUDDHIST MEDITATION CENTER: $51k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $200k → 14%ST MARY'S FOOD BANK: $25k → 11%UNICEF: $5k → 17%BBYO: $50k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $48k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $200k → 14%LOTUS MOON MEDITATION CENTER: $18k → 11%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $5k → 17%BBYO: $36k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $33k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $150k → 14%ISRAEL POLICY FORUM: $5k → 17%BBYO: $25k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $31k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $100k → 14%BBYO: $25k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $28k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $100k → 14%BBYO: $10k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $28k → 6%SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK: $75k → 14%BLUE LOTUS BUDDHIST MEDITATION CENTER: $25k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $75k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $15k → 6%SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK: $50k → 14%BLUE LOTUS TEMPLE: $15k → 6%JEWISH UNITED FUND: $75k → 14%SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK: $25k → 14%FEEDING AMERICA: $50k → 14%GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $25k → 14%LOTUS MOON MEDITATION CENTER: $18k → 14%LOTUS MOON MEDITATION CENTER: $18k → 14%GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEOSITORY: $5k → 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.
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 10 repeat orgs$110k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
4

Total granted

$2.0M
$110k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+40%

Still filing today

60%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Food & NutritionInternationalPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +13%
  • BB
    B'NAI B'RITH YOUTH ORGANIZATION
    7× · 2017–2023 · $246k · revenue +28%
  • SC
    SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $150k · revenue +88%

Funded once

  • A
    AJC
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • Feeding Americagraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +40%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · 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
Mazon a Jewish Response to Hunger

Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON is a national advocacy organization working to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel. See Schedule O for more details.

—
2
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Federation amplifies our collective strength to make the world a better place for everyone. we assist people in need, impact chicagoans of all faiths; support israel and the jewish people worldwide; respond swiftly to crises; cultivate…

Philanthropy
3
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
4
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
5
The Maryland Food Bank Inc

The maryland food bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization dedicated to feeding people, strengthening communities, and ending hunger for more marylanders.

—
6
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
7
Us Middle East Project Inc

The organization's mission is to engage in non partisan analysis of u.s. foreign policy in the middle east, with special emphasis on the middle east peace process, and to present policymakers in the united states, in the region and in the…

International
8
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…

—
9
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
10
Arizona Food Bank Network

Develop solutions to end hunger through food banking, public policy and innovation.

Food & Nutrition
11
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
12
City Harvest Inc

To end hunger in communities throughout new york city. (see schedule o)to end hunger in communities throughout new york city. we do this through food rescue and distribution, education, and other practical, innovative solutions.

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Medecins Sans Frontieres Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is Feeding America. 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

9 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. 9 of the 14 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
9/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,100,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGOIndividual grant recipient: $250,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipie…BLUE LOTUS BUDDHIST MEDITATION CENTER: $75,500 · OtherBLUE LOTUS BUDDHIST MEDI…LOTUS MOON MEDITATION CENTER: $54,000 · OtherLOTUS MOON MEDITATION CE…AJC: $50,000 · OtherAJCST VINCENT DEPAUL SOCIETY: $15,000 · OtherB'NAI B'RITH YOUTH ORGANIZATION: $246,000 · Youth DevelopmentB'NAI B'RITH …SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC: $150,000 · Public Safety & DisasterFeeding America: $50,000 · Food & NutritionST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $35,000 · Food & NutritionGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $30,000 · Food & NutritionUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $15,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $5,000 · InternationalISRAEL POLICY FORUM INC: $5,000 · International
Philanthropy$1,100,000Other$445,000Youth Development$246,000Public Safety & Disaster$150,000Food & Nutrition$115,000International$25,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,100,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetB'NAI B'RITH YOUTH ORGANIZATION: $246,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetSECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetFeeding America: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL POLICY FORUM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 B'NAI B'RITH YOUTH ORGANIZATION ↗
  • Who funds SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds Feeding America ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds ISRAEL POLICY FORUM INC ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Marc and Kathy Gordon Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Marc and Kathy Gordon Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Marc and Kathy Gordon Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Marc and Kathy Gordon Family 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 14 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Marc and Kathy Gordon Family’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