· Private foundation
Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k14 grants · $44k
- $10k–50k38 grants · $768k
- $50k–250k29 grants · $2.1M
- $250k+8 grants · $9.9M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB | $5,542,949 |
| BIG SHOULDERS FUND | $1,200,000 |
| RISE OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION | $1,000,000 |
| ACCELERATE INSTITUTE | $775,000 |
| PATHWAYS FOUNDATION | $469,163 |
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $450,000 |
| FRIENDS OF NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS INC | $255,000 |
| NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION | $250,000 |
| ALAIN LOCKE CHARTER SCHOOL | $150,000 |
| THE JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS | $125,000 |
| SAINTS FAITH HOPE & CHARITY | $125,000 |
| 100 CLUB OF CHICAGO | $100,000 |
| NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY HAVEY INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH | $100,000 |
| RON BURTON TRAINING VILLAGE | $100,000 |
| LEO CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL | $100,000 |
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 (FY17–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% 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
Which US states its grants reach
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 +29% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.
146 repeat relationships: 74 still active in FY2024, 72 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $413k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- RIRehabilitation Institute of Chicago8× · 2017–2024 · $19M · revenue +31%
- BSBig Shoulders Fund6× · 2017–2024 · $5.5M · revenue +67%
- LOLyric Opera of Chicago7× · 2017–2024 · $3.9M · revenue +33%
Funded once
- SRSHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB FKA REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOone grant, 2017 · $1.0M
- EIEMPOWER ILLINOISone grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -99%
- SHSACRED HEART SCHOOLSone grant, 2018 · $899k
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 public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
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…
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.
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…
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.
Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…
Achieving international impact through world-class research and education in fundamental computer science and information technology.
See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…
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.
The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.
How this is measured
163 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. 163 of the 240 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
Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.
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 Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds Big Shoulders Fund ↗
- Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds Accelerate Institute ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗
- Who funds RISE OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS INC ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Alain Locke Charter School ↗
- Who funds EMPOWER ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds THE 100 CLUB OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds Pathways Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ↗
- Who funds CLEARBROOK ↗
- Who funds MARINE CORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds AFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC ↗
- Who funds THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS ↗
- Who funds The Cara Program ↗
- Who funds UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF PRENTICE ↗
- Who funds METROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
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: Dr Scholl Foundation · Lavin Family Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Canning Foundation · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · Carol Bernick Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Hobsonlucas Family Foundation · Helen V Brach Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
- American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 3% of income from government
- Jupiter Medical Center Inc: 2% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan 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.
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