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Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co at a glance

· Private foundation

Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co

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.

$313k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$112k
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 2025.

Arts & Culture$240kPublic Safety & Disaster$117kEducation$96kHealth$34kEnvironment$24kRecreation & Sports$7kPhilanthropy$900Community Improvement$100Other$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $116k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $175k
$5,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN RED CROSS$112,000
MCA$62,750
RICE UNIVERSITY$46,000
BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION$25,000
CHIKAMING OPEN LANDS$20,000
ST CHRYSOSTOM'S DAY SCHOOL$15,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$5,000
THE FIELD MUSEUM$5,000
ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION$2,600
UROLOGICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION$2,500
FERNWOOD SCHOOL$2,000
COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL$2,000
PARKINSONS BODY AND MIND$1,000
LAKESIDE ASSOCIATION$1,000
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 (FY24–25, $117k) 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%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $112k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
CT
MO
DC
GA
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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$467k · 12 repeat orgs$122k to everyone else

12 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
7

Total granted

$467k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+26%

Still filing today

67%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $92k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthArts & CultureRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesEnvironmentOther
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

  • TA
    THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
    4× · 2018–2024 · $139k · revenue +34%
  • AN
    American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches
    2× · 2024–2025 · $117k · revenue +3%
  • CO
    CHIKAMING OPEN LANDS
    5× · 2017–2025 · $24k · revenue +282%

Funded once

  • RS
    RENAISSANCE SOCIETY
    one grant, 2024 · $19k
  • WT
    WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue +26%
  • IC
    ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH
    one grant, 2024 · $1k
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
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
2
The Rockefeller University

The rockefeller university (the university) is a world renowned center for research and graduate education in the biomedical sciences, chemistry, bioinformatics, and physics. the university's 73 laboratories conduct both clinical and basic…

Education
3
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
4
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
5
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
6
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
7
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
8
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
9
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
10
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
11
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
12
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Unlocking the secrets of life itself is the driving force behind the salk institute. our team of world-class, award-winning scientists pushes boundaries of knowledge in areas such as neuroscience, cancer research, aging, immunobiology,…

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Arthritis Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Parkinson's Body and Mind Inc. 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

15 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. 15 of the 26 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)
15/15
Grantees still filing
9/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $139,091 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOWilliam Marsh Rice University: $46,000 · EducationWilliam Marsh Rice UniversityTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $22,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN …THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $7,500 · EducationMCA: $77,750 · OtherMCARENAISSANCE SOCIETY: $18,500 · OtherRENAISSANCE SOCIETYIndividual grant recipient: $15,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipien…ST CHRYSOSTOM'S DAY SCHOOL: $15,000 · OtherST CHRYSOSTOM'S DAY SCHOO…FERNWOOD SCHOOL: $5,000 · Other+7 more: $6,900 · OtherAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $117,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red…FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $70,320 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM O…WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE …BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $25,000 · HealthPARKINSON'S BODY AND MIND INC: $3,500 · HealthARTHRITIS FOUNDATION INC: $3,100 · HealthCHIKAMING OPEN LANDS: $24,100 · EnvironmentNorthwestern University: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $500 · Recreation & SportsGULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $900 · Philanthropy
Education$214,591Other$138,150Human Services$117,000Arts & Culture$80,320Health$31,600Environment$24,100Recreation & Sports$5,500Philanthropy$900

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 budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $139,091 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $117,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $70,320 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWilliam Marsh Rice University: $46,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHIKAMING OPEN LANDS: $24,100 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $22,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $7,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPARKINSON'S BODY AND MIND INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetARTHRITIS FOUNDATION INC: $3,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUROLOGICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $2,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $900 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION: $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.

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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co. 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get 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 · 0–20%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co?

    Find your warmest path to Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow Co 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 26 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 Marshall B Front Family Charitable Foundation C/O M Front/Mesirow’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