· Private foundation
Metzner 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k51 grants · $123k
- $10k–50k17 grants · $286k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE ARK | $30,000 |
| HARRIS THEATER | $25,000 |
| DRIEHAUS MUSEUM | $25,000 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO | $25,000 |
| COLUMBIA COLLEGE | $22,600 |
| MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART | $22,500 |
| AIDS FOUNDATION | $16,500 |
| CHIARTS | $15,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $15,000 |
| JEWISH FEDERATION OF CHICAGO | $15,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO | $13,250 |
| RENAISSANCE SOCIETY | $11,000 |
| GOODMAN THEATRE | $10,000 |
| REBUILD FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| JOFFREY BALLET | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.
107 repeat relationships: 51 still active in FY2025, 56 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $71k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MOMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART8× · 2017–2025 · $170k · revenue +0%
- TRThe Richard H Driehaus Museum7× · 2018–2025 · $113k · revenue +167%
- WTWriters Theatre Inc8× · 2017–2024 · $60k · revenue +8%
Funded once
- DADOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION (INTERNATIONAL)one grant, 2021 · $10k
- TMTHE MONASTERY FOUNDATIONone grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue 0%
- FOFriends of Israels Environmentgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +49%
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.
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.
Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.
The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…
Lookingglass theatre company is a national leader in the creation and presentation of innovative, cutting-edge theatrical work. lookingglass interweaves movement, circus arts and narrative in original and captivating ways. guided by an…
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…
See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.
The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)
The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…
Artpace san antonio is a nonprofit residency program which supports texas, national, and international artists in the creation of new art. see schedule o for continuation.
The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.
The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).
How this is measured
103 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. 103 of the 198 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
- Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds The Richard H Driehaus Museum ↗
- Who funds Writers Theatre Inc ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC ↗
- Who funds Columbia College Chicago ↗
- Who funds HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds Arizona Theatre Company ↗
- Who funds THE JOFFREY BALLET ↗
- Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Chicago Artists Coalition ↗
- Who funds Illinois Institute of Technology ↗
- Who funds Threewalls ↗
- Who funds Society for Contemporary Art C-O The Art Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds Center on Halsted ↗
- Who funds The National Public Housing Museum ↗
- Who funds THE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds Indiana University Foundation ↗
- Who funds TWIST OUT CANCER ↗
- Who funds Camp for All Kids ↗
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.
Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Field Foundation of Illinois · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Terra Foundation for American Art · Builders Vision Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Jack & Sandra Guthman Fdn · The Atkins Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Metzner Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Metzner Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
- Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Metzner Family’s filings →