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Northern Trust Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Northern Trust 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.

$2.5M
Granted FY2021
70
Grants FY2021
4
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

64% of Northern Trust Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Robert R Mccormick Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 8 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2021, the last year Northern Trust Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 56 organizations, $2M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

0
’20
56
’21
36
’22
4
’23
0
’24
8
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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 2025.

Philanthropy$6.7MFood & Nutrition$1.1MHealth$735kEducation$665kCommunity Improvement$610kHousing & Shelter$513kHuman Services$426kYouth Development$315kOther$0
02FY2021 · 70 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 70 grants below total $2,078,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,485,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $406,500 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2021

  • $10k–50k67 grants · $1.9M
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $200k
$25,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$82M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Greater Chicago Food Depository$100,000
Community FoodBank of New Jersey$50,000
All Chicago Making Homelessness History$50,000
Advocate Health And Hospitals Corporation$40,000
Ignite (Teen Living Programs)$40,000
The University of Chicago Network for College Success (NCS)$40,000
The University of Chicago Medicine$40,000
A Safe Haven$40,000
The Salvation Army$40,000
The Night Ministry$40,000
Noble Network of Charter Schools$40,000
Howard Brown Health Center$40,000
La Rabida Children's Hospital$40,000
Options for Youth$40,000
Braven, Inc.$40,000
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 (FY25–25, $74k) 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%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $64k → 14%MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION: $10k → 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.

39%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 25 repeat orgs$3.6M to everyone else

25 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2021, 3 since wound down; 77 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call). Read against FY2021, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
77

Total granted

$2.3M
$3.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+17%

Still filing today

84%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’25
Human ServicesEducationInternationalHealthHousing & ShelterYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $400k · revenue +2%
  • OF
    OPTIONS FOR YOUTH
    2× · 2021–2022 · $90k · revenue +74%
  • RU
    Rush University Medical Center
    2× · 2021–2022 · $90k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE COMMERCIAL CLUB FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2025 · $500k · revenue 0%
  • NH
    NOURISHING HOPE
    one grant, 2025 · $400k · revenue 0%
  • CC
    Chicago Community Trust Foundation
    one grant, 2022 · $200k
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 Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
2
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
3
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
4
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
6
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
7
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
8
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
9
Association House of Chicago

Association house's mission is to advance each person's full participation in the life of their families, communities, and society. since 1899, we have served a vibrant, multicultural community. we used a trauma informed, culturally…

Human Services
10
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
11
Chicago Public Education Fund

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.

Education
12
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill; the most unlike its peers is Chicago Cred Inc. 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

78 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. 78 of the 103 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
78/78
Grantees still filing
52/78
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION: $6,082,333 · PhilanthropyROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATIONUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $400,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC+1 more: $20,000 · PhilanthropyTHE COMMERCIAL CLUB FOUNDATION: $500,000 · OtherTHE COMMERCIAL CLUB FOUNDATI…NOURISHING HOPE: $400,000 · OtherNOURISHING HOPEChicago Community Trust Foundation: $200,000 · OtherChicago Community Trust Foun…Feeding America: $125,000 · OtherTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION+43 more: $1,577,929 · Other+43 moreOPTIONS FOR YOUTH: $90,000 · Human ServicesONE FAMILY ILLINOIS: $80,000 · Human ServicesCHICAGO FURNITURE BANK: $75,000 · Human ServicesInspiration Corporation: $70,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $63,526 · Human ServicesYOUTH OUTREACH SERVICES INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $40,000 · Human ServicesFACING FORWARD TO END HOMELESSNESS: $40,000 · Human ServicesmRelief: $40,000 · Human Services+9 more: $195,000 · Human ServicesThe Global FoodBanking Network: $315,448 · InternationalCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $91,875 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $91,706 · InternationalUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $81,893 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $38,873 · InternationalAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · International+1 more: $5,375 · InternationalCOLLEGE MENTORING EXPERIENCE: $40,000 · EducationNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS: $40,000 · EducationTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $40,000 · EducationDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $30,000 · EducationCENTER FOR COMPANIES THAT CARE: $30,000 · EducationChicago State Foundation: $25,000 · EducationGLENWOOD ACADEMY: $25,000 · EducationYouth Guidance: $25,000 · EducationDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · EducationACADEMY FOR URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: $25,000 · EducationTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · EducationPERSPECTIVES CHARTER SCHOOLS: $20,000 · EducationCenter for Independence through Conductive Education Inc: $20,000 · EducationLake Forest College: $20,000 · EducationRush University Medical Center: $90,000 · HealthLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $80,000 · HealthErie Family Health Center Inc: $60,000 · HealthESPERANZA HEALTH CENTERS: $40,000 · HealthADVOCATE HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORP: $40,000 · HealthA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION: $40,000 · HealthPresence Behavioral Health: $25,000 · HealthALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $150,000 · Housing & ShelterCenter for Housing and Health: $70,000 · Housing & ShelterWESTSIDE HEALTH AUTHORITY: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterThe Resurrection Project: $22,500 · Housing & ShelterDEBORAH'S PLACE: $20,000 · Housing & Shelter
Philanthropy$6,502,333Other$3,002,929Human Services$753,526International$650,170Education$415,000Health$375,000Housing & Shelter$287,500

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 budgetROBERT R MCCORMICK FOUNDATION: $6,082,333 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetTHE COMMERCIAL CLUB FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE: $400,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $400,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe Global FoodBanking Network: $315,448 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $150,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFeeding America: $125,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $91,875 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $91,706 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPTIONS FOR YOUTH: $90,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $90,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $81,893 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $80,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetONE FAMILY ILLINOIS: $80,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHoward Brown Health Center: $80,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO FURNITURE BANK: $75,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetInspiration Corporation: $70,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCenter for Housing and Health: $70,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $63,526 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIMENTOR INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetChicago Cred Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYOUTH OUTREACH SERVICES INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCommunity Food Bank Of New Jersey Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCity Colleges of Chicago Foundation: $45,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDANIEL MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $45,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $40,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFACING FORWARD TO END HOMELESSNESS: $40,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBRAVEN INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetESPERANZA HEALTH CENTERS: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOLLEGE MENTORING EXPERIENCE: $40,000 over 2y, 9.0% of budgetADVOCATE HEALTH AND HOSPITALS CORP: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAWNDALE CHRISTIAN HEALTH CENTER: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNOBLE NETWORK OF CHARTER SCHOOLS: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetmRelief: $40,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetThe Cara Program: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $38,873 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR COMPANIES THAT CARE: $30,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetChicago State Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetInstitute for Nonviolence Chicago: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES OF COOK COUNTY: $25,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetPresence Behavioral Health: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGLENWOOD ACADEMY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

Robert R McCormick Fo…United Way of Metropo…The Chicago Community…Circle of Service Fou…Arie and Ida Crown Me…Polk Bros Foundation …Michael Reese Health …Lloyd a Fry FoundationVisiting Nurse Associ…George M Eisenberg Fo…Jewish Federation of …AIDS Foundation of Ch…
Robert R McCormick FoundationIL68.5× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Robert R McCormick Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Michael Reese Health Trust · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Visiting Nurse Association of Chicago (Aka) Vna Foundation · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · AIDS Foundation of 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 Northern Trust Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Northern Trust 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%3%5%8%10%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 · 0–10%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Northern Trust Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Northern Trust Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    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 103 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Northern’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