· Private foundation
Nathaniel and Lillian G Sommerfield Memorial Fund - Co Sally N Schwartz
Its FY2019 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 2019.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CHICAGO COSTUME COUNCIL CHGO HIST M | $3,600 |
| PROJECT ONWARD | $3,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,000 |
| CHICAGO HOUSE | $1,000 |
| CHILDREN'S HOUSE OF MISS TAMMIE MON | $250 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $200 |
| FRIENDS OF CHICAGO RIVER | $200 |
| OPEN BOOKS | $200 |
| RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES | $100 |
| BUILD ON | $100 |
| ELE'S PLACE | $100 |
| WOOD FAMILY FOUNDATION | $100 |
| RESILINCE | $100 |
| REACH OUT AND READ ILLINOIS | $100 |
| BEAR NECESSITIES | $100 |
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 (FY19–19, $100) 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.
How this is measured
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 +58% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2019, 7 since wound down; 37 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (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 FY2019, 2% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $13k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- IIIllinois Institute of Technology2× · 2017–2018 · $6k · revenue +27%
- CSChicago Symphony Orchestra2× · 2017–2018 · $2k · revenue +58%
- TATHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO2× · 2017–2018 · $2k · revenue +45%
Funded once
- CGCHICAGO GATEWAY GREEN COMMITTEEone grant, 2018 · $3k · revenue -49%
- NMNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITALone grant, 2018 · $3k
- LCLURIA CHILDRENS HOSPITALone grant, 2018 · $2k
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.
The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…
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 organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
Chicago public art group brings artists and communities together to produce high-quality public art, extending and transforming the tradition of collaborative, community-involved public artwork.
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
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.
We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the…
Chicago childrens museum is a place where families and caregivers with infants and children are encouraged to create, explore, and discover together through play. the museum features three vibrant floors of exhibits and activities that…
Cedille Chicago, NFP is devoted to the activity of producing and marketing recordings of classical music by Chicago-area musicians and composers.
The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.
How this is measured
29 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. 29 of the 64 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 Illinois Institute of Technology ↗
- Who funds PROJECT ONWARD ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO GATEWAY GREEN COMMITTEE ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Ronald McDonald House Global ↗
- Who funds Classical Music Chicago ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HOUSE & SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCY ↗
- Who funds Center for Environmental Health ↗
- Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds HYDE PARK ART CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE LILY PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER ↗
- Who funds OPEN BOOKS LTD ↗
- Who funds LITTLE CITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds BUILDON INC ↗
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 · AbbVie Foundation · The Allstate Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Builders Vision Foundation · Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Nathaniel and Lillian G Sommerfield Memorial Fund - Co Sally N Schwartz funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nathaniel and Lillian G Sommerfield Memorial Fund - Co Sally N Schwartz. Bigger dots raise more.