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Michael J Stephen and Lucile G Stephen Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Michael J Stephen and Lucile G Stephen Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$28k
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$10k
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, FY2018 to 2024.

International$46kEducation$35kReligion$17kArts & Culture$10kHealth$10kCrime & Legal$10kCivil Rights$10kFood & Nutrition$3kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$750k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$10,000
JWAS FOUNDATION$5,000
EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FU$5,000
BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO$5,000
THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND$2,675
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 (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $10k → 17%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $5k → 17%SOUTH BEND BIKE GARAGE: $500 → 13%MISERCORDIA: $7k → 14%PROPUBLICA: $5k → 17%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $5k → 17%LA CASA DE AMISTAD: $1k → 13%MISERCORDIA: $6k → 14%PROPUBLICA: $5k → 17%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $5k → 17%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $4k → 13%MISERCORDIA: $5k → 14%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $2k → 17%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $3k → 13%DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $7k → 14%HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $1k → 17%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $2k → 13%BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO: $5k → 14%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $2k → 13%DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $5k → 14%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $675 → 13%BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO: $5k → 14%THE STANLEY CLARK SCHOOL FUND: $500 → 13%DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%JWAS FOUNDATION: $5k → 13%FRIENDS OF CHIPATA DIOCESE-ZAMBIA: $8k → 14%JWAS FOUNDATION: $5k → 13%FRIENDS OF CHIPATA DIOCESE-ZAMBIA: $7k → 14%FRIENDS OF CHIPATA DIOCESE-ZAMBIA: $1k → 14%SHEM CENTER FOR INTERFAITH SPIRITUA: $500 → 14%SHEM CENTER FOR INTERFAITH SPIRITUA: $500 → 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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$128k · 11 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
4

Total granted

$128k
$4k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+115%

Still filing today

55%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentCrime & LegalArts & CultureInternationalOther
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

  • DU
    DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2018–2020 · $13k · revenue +34%
  • BC
    BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP
    2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue +42%
  • EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • CC
    CULTIVATING COMMUNITY
    one grant, 2019 · $2k · revenue +10%
  • UG
    Unity Gardensgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1k · revenue +115%
  • LC
    LA CASA DE AMISTAD INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue +119%
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
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
2
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
3
Dc Greens Inc

DC Greens advances health equity by building a just and resilient food system.

Community Improvement
4
Metropolitan Indianapolis Public Media Inc

Trusted journalism, inspiring stories and lifelong learning.

Arts & Culture
5
Parliament of the Worlds Religions

The vision of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions is of a just, peaceful and sustainable world in which: *Religious and spiritual communities live in harmony and contribute to a better world from their riches of wisdom…

—
6
Energy Education Council

Enhancing lives by promoting the safe & efficient use of electricity.

Education
7
Denver Botanic Gardens Inc

The mission of denver botanic gardens is to connect people with plants, especially plants from the rocky mountain region and similar regions around the world, providing delight and enlightenment to everyone.

Environment
8
Boston Architectural College

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

—
9
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
10
Star Farm Chicago

Star farm chicago is an urban farm in the back of the yards neighborhood that seeks to increase accessibility and of locally grown organic produce through affordable farm stands, csas, year-round farmers markets participation, food…

—
11
The International School of San Francisco

Guided by the principles of academic rigor and diversity, the international school of san francisco offers programs of study in french and english to prepare its graduates for a world in which the ability to think critically and to…

Education
12
Leadership Indianapolis Inc

Educate, Inspire, Connect and Mobilize Community Leaders to serve and strengthen greater Indianapolis.

Public Benefit
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 Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality. 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

10 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. 10 of the 16 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HEIFER INTERNATIONAL: $18,400 · OtherHEIFER INTERNATIONALMISERCORDIA: $18,000 · OtherMISERCORDIAFRIENDS OF CHIPATA DIOCESE-ZAMBIA: $16,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF CHIPATA DIOCESE-ZAMBIALURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $10,000 · OtherLURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITALJWAS FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherJWAS FOUNDATION+2 more: $1,500 · OtherDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $13,000 · EducationDOMINICAN UNIVERSITYSTANLEY CLARK SCHOOL INC: $11,850 · EducationSTANLEY CLARK SCHOOL INCBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $10,000 · EducationBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFPMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $10,000 · Crime & LegalPRO PUBLICA INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCULTIVATING COMMUNITY: $1,500 · Food & NutritionUnity Gardens: $1,000 · Food & NutritionSHEM CENTER FOR INTERFAITH SPIRITUALITY: $1,000 · Youth Development
Other$73,900Education$34,850International$10,000Crime & Legal$10,000Arts & Culture$10,000Food & Nutrition$2,500Youth Development$1,000

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 budgetDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $13,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSTANLEY CLARK SCHOOL INC: $11,850 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCULTIVATING COMMUNITY: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUnity Gardens: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLA CASA DE AMISTAD INC: $1,000 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.

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.

Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA4.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Michael J Stephen and Lucile G Stephen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michael J Stephen and Lucile G Stephen 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report 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 16 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.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Michael J Stephen and Lucile G Stephen 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