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Illinois · Private foundation

Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
52
Grants FY2025
54
Organizations funded FY2024
13%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$15,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$141,000
Organizations funded a year
35 to 54
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
9
Total assets, FY2025
$22M
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 13% of the organizations Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 6% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $89k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
HealthReligionInternationalPhilanthropyHuman ServicesEducationOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving52$1.4M12%
FY202454$1.4M13%
FY202349$1.3M22%
FY202240$1.2M18%
FY202136$1.3M17%
FY202035$1.2Mn/a
99% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.6MHealth$1.2MEducation$982kReligion$913kHuman Services$821kFood & Nutrition$716kCommunity Improvement$600kCrime & Legal$255kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
MI
NY
IN
CA
CO
MO
VA
DC
LA

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Museum of Flight Foundation$600,00061%
The Adler Planetarium$600,00061%
Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum$300,00061%
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School$285,0003n/a
Hatzalah Chicago$250,000215%
Meals on Wheels Chicago$245,00064%
One Love Global Wellness Foundation$244,340660%
Casa Lake County Inc$225,00063%
Nourishing Hope$217,00060%
Washington University$150,00060%
Show all 45 grantees
All grantees of Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Museum of Flight Foundation$600,00061%
The Adler Planetarium$600,00061%
Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum$300,00061%
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School$285,0003n/a
Hatzalah Chicago$250,000215%
Meals on Wheels Chicago$245,00064%
One Love Global Wellness Foundation$244,340660%
Casa Lake County Inc$225,00063%
Nourishing Hope$217,00060%
Washington University$150,00060%
Webster University$150,00060%
Swift Outdoor Accessible Recreation$145,000644%
Israel Cancer Research Fund Inc$76,00060%
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago$72,00030%
Chicago Chesed Fund$67,80030%
Park Lawn Association Inc$61,80061%
Wildwood Historical Society$60,000643%
Shedd Aquarium Society$60,00060%
Ronald McDonald House Global$57,50060%
Sinai Health System$57,00050%
Pat Mac's Pack Inc$55,00054%
The Andrew Weishar Foundation$55,00054%
Chicago Mezuzah and Mitzvah Campaign$50,00012%
My Joyful Heart Nfp$40,00044%
Shady Oaks Camp for People with Disabilities$40,0002n/a
Care Kit Foundation$30,0003n/a
The Hinda Institute$30,00032%
Children's Research Triangle$27,50030%
B'Nai B'Rith Youth Organization$25,00040%
University of Chicago$25,00040%
Letzbox Chicago Foundation$25,0001n/a
The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America$20,00020%
Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life$16,20030%
Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie$10,6001n/a
Secure Community Network Inc$10,0001n/a
Israel Emergency Alliance$10,00010%
Greater Chicago Food Depository$10,00010%
Friends of United Hatzalah Inc$10,00010%
Big Sur Land Trust$10,00010%
March of Dimes Inc$10,00020%
Congregation Beth Shalom$9,5002n/a
Libenu$5,40010%
Whispering Willows Senior Dog Sanctuary Inc$5,00010%
Pleasant Dale Parks Foundation$5,000122%
Pasadena Humane$2,20010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 27 recipients with no EIN on record ($3.5M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 38 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMuseum of Flight Foundation: $600,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetThe Adler Planetarium: $600,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetWings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum: $300,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetHatzalah Chicago: $250,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetMeals on Wheels Chicago: $245,000 over 6y, 4.2% of budgetOne Love Global Wellness Foundation: $244,340 over 6y, 60% of budgetCasa Lake County Inc: $225,000 over 6y, 2.9% of budgetNourishing Hope: $217,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetWashington University: $150,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWebster University: $150,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSwift Outdoor Accessible Recreation: $145,000 over 6y, 44% of budgetIsrael Cancer Research Fund Inc: $76,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetJewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago: $72,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Chesed Fund: $67,800 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPark Lawn Association Inc: $61,800 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetWildwood Historical Society: $60,000 over 6y, 43% of budgetShedd Aquarium Society: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRonald McDonald House Global: $57,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSinai Health System: $57,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPat Mac's Pack Inc: $55,000 over 5y, 3.6% of budgetThe Andrew Weishar Foundation: $55,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetChicago Mezuzah and Mitzvah Campaign: $50,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMy Joyful Heart Nfp: $40,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetThe Hinda Institute: $30,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetChildren's Research Triangle: $27,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetB'Nai B'Rith Youth Organization: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Shalom Hartman Institute of North America: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life: $16,200 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetIsrael Emergency Alliance: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGreater Chicago Food Depository: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of United Hatzalah Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBig Sur Land Trust: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMarch of Dimes Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLibenu: $5,400 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWhispering Willows Senior Dog Sanctuary Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPleasant Dale Parks Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetPasadena Humane: $2,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 38.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL22.6× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family Foundation · Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation · Bitton Family Foundation Inc · Circle of Service Foundation · Weiner-Marc Foundation · Noah Wolff Family Foundation Inc · Elliott and Ronni Charitable Fdn · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · Walder Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial

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.

Compare Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Peggy and Steve Fossett 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.

About Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation

How much does Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation give?
Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation reported 52 grants totaling $1,449,400 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 35 and 54 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (20%), Health (15%), Education (12%).
Who are Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Museum of Flight Foundation ($600k), The Adler Planetarium ($600k), Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum ($300k).
Does Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 13% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Todd a and Raphaela Stern Family Foundation, Aj & Sl Stern Family Foundation.
Where is Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation based?
Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation is based in IL.

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 73 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

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