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Mj O'Brien Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Mj O'Brien 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.

$72k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$50k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Human Services$519kEducation$132kArts & Culture$84kPhilanthropy$38kHousing & Shelter$31kRecreation & Sports$25kHealth$17kReligion$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$357k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION$50,000
EVANSTON SCHOLARS$10,000
EILEEN SHEAHAN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP$5,030
DOOR COUNTY LAND TRUST$1,500
WARREN CHERRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND$1,000
UNITED WAY OF DOOR COUNTY$1,000
BIRCH CREEK MUSIC PERFORMANCE CENTER$1,000
MCGAW YMCA$1,000
THE EGG HARBOR FIREFIGHTERS INC$500
Individual grant recipient$500
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 (FY17–25, $382k) 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%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $6k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $5k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $5k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $5k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $55k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%MISERICORDIA FAMILY ASSOCIATION: $10k → 14%MISERICORDIA FAMILY ASSOCIATION: $8k → 14%MISERICORDIA FAMILY ASSOCIATION: $7k → 14%MISERICORDIA FAMILY ASSOCIATION: $5k → 14%MISERICORDIA FAMILY ASSOCIATION: $5k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $3k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $2k → 14%INTERFAITH COMM FOR DETAINED IMMIGRANTS: $1k → 14%INTERFAITH COMM FOR DETAINED IMMIGRANTS: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $2k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $2k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 14%MCGAW YMCA: $1k → 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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$701k · 25 repeat orgs$128k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +85% since the first grant, against -55% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
7

Total granted

$701k
$128k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
-55%

Still filing today

64%
14%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureRecreation & SportsEducationHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyOther
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

  • MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $340k · revenue ×44
  • ES
    EVANSTON SCHOLARS
    9× · 2017–2025 · $95k · revenue +85%
  • CF
    CONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $31k · revenue +370%

Funded once

  • MITCHELL STREET ARTS COLLABORATIVE INCORPORATED
    one grant, 2023 · $58k · revenue -55%
  • M
    MISERICORDIA
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • AC
    ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
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
Northwest Community Healthcare

NORTHWEST COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE follows the mission of Endeavor Health. The mission of Endeavor Health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." Central to this mission is a commitment to providing clinical programs and…

Health
2
Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare Group

The elmhurst memorial healthcare group follows the mission of endeavor health (f/k/a ns-ee holdings). the mission of endeavor health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." central to this mission is a commitment to…

—
3
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
4
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
5
United Way of Ne Minnesota

United way of northeastern minnesota invests in nonprofits, programs, and collaborations that equip and empower, creating opportunities for people to thrive in our communities.

—
6
Executive Service Corps of Chicago

Executive Service Corps is the premier nonprofit consultancy that engages highly skilled professionals who use their experience and expertise to provide nonprofits with the consulting services they need to be successful. Our vision is to…

Community Improvement
7
Edward Hospital

Edward Hospital follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
8
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
9
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
10
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
11
North Shore Health Care Foundation

To expand equitable health care and healthy living in Cook County and champion solutions through funding, education and advocacy.

Health
12
Union Health System

To serve our communities by provding innovative and compassionate healthcare.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Connections for the Homeless Inc; the most unlike its peers is Endeavor Health Clinical Operations. 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

18 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. 18 of the 33 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
15/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $340,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA FOUNDATIONTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $29,000 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT MINISTRY+2 more: $13,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORDIA HEART OF MERCY: $56,000 · OtherMISERICORDIA HEART OF MER…MISERICORDIA: $50,000 · OtherMISERICORDIAWARREN BILLY CHERRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $13,000 · OtherWARREN BILLY CHERRY SCHOL…COMMUNITY HEALTH: $10,900 · OtherCOMMUNITY HEALTHEILEEN SHEAHAN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP: $10,030 · OtherST MALACHY SCHOOL: $7,100 · OtherCHERRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $7,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $7,000 · Other+11 more: $32,501 · Other+11 moreEVANSTON SCHOLARS: $95,000 · EducationEVANSTON SCH…MITCHELL STREET ARTS COLLABORATIVE INCORPORATED: $58,000 · Arts & CultureMITCHELL S…NORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $19,000 · Arts & CultureNORTHLIGHT…EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER: $3,500 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureEvanston Community Foundation: $29,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF DOOR COUNTY INC: $9,000 · PhilanthropyNorthwestern University: $25,000 · Recreation & SportsFRIENDS OF THE ROBERT CROWN CENTER: $10,000 · Recreation & SportsCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $31,000 · Housing & Shelter
Human Services$382,000Other$193,531Education$95,000Arts & Culture$83,000Philanthropy$38,000Recreation & Sports$35,000Housing & Shelter$31,000

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 budgetMISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $340,000 over 9y, 1.4% of budgetEVANSTON SCHOLARS: $95,000 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetMITCHELL STREET ARTS COLLABORATIVE INCORPORATED: $58,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $31,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetEvanston Community Foundation: $29,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $29,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNorthwestern University: $25,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC: $19,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetWARREN BILLY CHERRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $13,000 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Assoc McGaw Inc: $11,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ROBERT CROWN CENTER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF DOOR COUNTY INC: $9,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetEVANSTON HISTORY CENTER: $3,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDOOR COUNTY LAND TRUST INC: $3,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $2,501 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBIRCH CREEK MUSIC PERFORMANCE CENTER INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetIllinois Community for Displaced Immigrants: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $2,000 over 2y, 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.

  • Who funds MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EVANSTON SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds MITCHELL STREET ARTS COLLABORATIVE INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC ↗
  • Who funds Evanston Community Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE NIGHT MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds NORTHLIGHT THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds WARREN BILLY CHERRY SCHOLARSHIP FUND ↗
  • Who funds Young Mens Christian Assoc McGaw Inc ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ROBERT CROWN CENTER ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF DOOR COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds DOOR COUNTY LAND TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
  • Who funds BIRCH CREEK MUSIC PERFORMANCE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants ↗
  • Who funds Endeavor Health Clinical Operations ↗

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 Chicago Community…Lewis-Sebring Family …Elizabeth Beidler Tis…John D and Catherine …Cless Family Foundati…Weatherlow FoundationThe Howard S Dubin Fa…The Kellcie FundEvanston Community Fo…National Philanthropi…Northwestern Universi…Jewish Federation of …
The Chicago Community TrustIL18.3× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation · Elizabeth Beidler Tisdahl Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Cless Family Foundation · Weatherlow Foundation · The Howard S Dubin Family Foundation · The Kellcie Fund · Evanston Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Northwestern University · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

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 Mj O'Brien Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mj O'Brien Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 33 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 Mj O'Brien 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