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Minow Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Minow Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$960k
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.2MRecreation & Sports$355kEducation$339kPhilanthropy$235kReligion$119kHealth$108kSocial Science$103kFood & Nutrition$77kOther$0
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $670k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$75,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$8.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE$250,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$150,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$120,000
NNMJBM PLANT FOR OUR CHILDREN$75,000
COMBINED JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF GREATER BOSTON$75,000
CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM$75,000
JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND$75,000
SORENSEN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND JUSTICE$50,000
RAVINIA FESTIVAL$50,000
KANOON MAGNET SCHOOL$20,000
BEYOND LEGAL AID$20,000
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 (FY24–24, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%BEYOND LEGAL AID: $20k → 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
WI
NY
MA
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
RI
CA
NE
VA
MD
TN
DC
LA
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 36 repeat orgs$631k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against -2% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 33 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
19

Total granted

$1.9M
$296k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
-2%

Still filing today

56%
42%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $335k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureInternationalHealthRecreation & SportsCrime & LegalOther
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

  • WT
    WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $650k · revenue +16%
  • Northwestern University
    4× · 2020–2024 · $225k · revenue +33%
  • The Rand Corporation
    4× · 2020–2023 · $103k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • CS
    CHICAGO SINAI CONGREGATION
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • WE
    WGBH EDUCATION FUND
    one grant, 2022 · $40k
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
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
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
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
5
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
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
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
8
The Adler Planetarium

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…

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
Boston Architectural College

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

—
11
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
12
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.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lincoln Presidential Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Adlai Stevenson Center On Democracy. 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

36 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. 36 of the 65 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)
35/36
Grantees still filing
26/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM: $395,000 · OtherCHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUMOSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE: $250,500 · OtherOSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTEMAYO CLINIC: $103,000 · OtherMAYO CLINICCHICAGO SINAI CONGREGATION: $100,000 · OtherCHICAGO SINAI CONGREGATIONIndividual grant recipient: $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientNNMJBM PLANT FOR OUR CHILDREN: $75,000 · OtherNNMJBM PLANT FOR OUR CHILDRENSORENSEN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND JUSTICE: $50,000 · Other+34 more: $150,445 · Other+34 moreWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $650,000 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATION…WGBH Educational Foundation: $120,000 · Arts & CultureWGBH Educational FoundationRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $50,000 · Arts & CultureRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION+3 more: $6,100 · Arts & CultureNorthwestern University: $225,000 · Recreation & SportsNorthweste…MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Recreation & SportsMILLENNIUM…JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND: $75,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH CO…Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $75,000 · PhilanthropyCombined …JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $50,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FE…JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $35,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UN…University of Notre Dame du Lac: $100,000 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $10,750 · EducationTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $10,000 · EducationLINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Education+5 more: $7,550 · EducationThe Rand Corporation: $103,000 · Public BenefitSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW: $53,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID CHICAGO: $3,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$1,223,945Arts & Culture$826,100Recreation & Sports$255,000Philanthropy$235,000Education$133,300Public Benefit$103,000Crime & Legal$56,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $650,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetNorthwestern University: $225,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $120,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Rand Corporation: $103,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNAL FUND: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW: $53,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetBEYOND LEGAL AID: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $10,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWEITZMAN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY: $3,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLEGAL AID CHICAGO: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTOP BOX FOODS: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHIAS INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetInjustice Watch NFP: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetADLAI STEVENSON CENTER ON DEMOCRACY: $1,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association: $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GOOD PEOPLE FUND INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY FOR LAW & POLICY: $350 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOURO SYNAGOGUE FOUNDATION: $300 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY LIBRARY FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $100 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.

The Sidley Austin Fou…The Chicago Community…Lloyd a Fry FoundationJohn D and Catherine …Hobsonlucas Family Fo…Polk Bros Foundation …Gs Donor Advised Phil…California Community …Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…
The Sidley Austin FoundationIL19.6× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Sidley Austin Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Hobsonlucas Family Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · California Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Jpmorgan Chase 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 Minow Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Minow Family Foundation. 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 88%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 65 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

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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