Illinois · Private foundation
Pepper 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.
- $3.7M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 51
- Grants FY2025
- 28
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 39%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $25,500
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $1,010,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 9 to 28
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 8
- Total assets, FY2025
- $35M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 39% of the organizations Pepper Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 24% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $770k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 51 | $3.7M | 49% |
| FY2024 | 28 | $3.2M | 39% |
| FY2023 | 22 | $1.6M | 23% |
| FY2022 | 18 | $415k | 28% |
| FY2021 | 10 | $558k | 30% |
| FY2020 | 9 | $678k | 11% |
| FY2019 | 20 | $540k | 30% |
| FY2018 | 23 | $1.3M | 22% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Art Institute of Chicago | $2,195,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Northwestern University | $1,542,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Shedd Aquarium Society | $1,510,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | $685,982 | 7 | 0% |
| Endeavor Health Clinical Operations | $600,000 | 2 | 0% |
| The Adler Planetarium | $312,500 | 4 | 1% |
| Protestant Episcopal Church Diocese of Chicago Bishops and Trustees | $282,000 | 1 | n/a |
| North Central College | $250,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation | $250,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Plymouth Place Inc | $200,000 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 53 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 31 recipients with no EIN on record ($2.9M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Pepper Family Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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 · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Motorola Solutions Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Pepper Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Pepper Family 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 Pepper Family Foundation
- How much does Pepper Family Foundation give?
- Pepper Family Foundation reported 51 grants totaling $3,746,768 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 28 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Pepper Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (20%), Animals (19%), Recreation & Sports (18%).
- Who are Pepper Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: The Art Institute of Chicago ($2.2M), Northwestern University ($1.5M), Shedd Aquarium Society ($1.5M).
- Does Pepper Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 39% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Pepper Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Pepper Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Chicago Community Trust, The Ayco Charitable Foundation, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc.
- Where is Pepper Family Foundation based?
- Pepper Family Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Pepper Family’s filings →