Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Public charity

PERT Foundation

PERT Foundation is organized and operated to foster, support, develop, and maintain charitable activities and vital human and educational services by supporting and carrying out the charitable purposes of The Chicago Community Trust and The Chicago Community Foundation by such means as the board of directors of the organization may…

$318M
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$318M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2018–2024.

Philanthropy$338MCommunity Improvement$5.5MArts & Culture$1.0MHealth$755kHuman Services$640kCivil Rights$550kYouth Development$215kPublic Benefit$140kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$318,021,564
Median grant
1
States reached
$317M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Chicago Community Foundation$318,021,564
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY18–22, $980k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 73% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Pioneer Center for Human Services: $75k → 6%A Better Chicago: $75k → 14%Pioneer Center for Human Services: $50k → 6%Pioneer Center for Human Services: $50k → 6%Woodstock Christian Life Services: $30k → 6%Woodstock Christian Life Services: $20k → 6%Woodstock Christian Life Services: $20k → 6%Woodstock Christian Life Services: $20k → 6%SGA Youth & Family Services: $100k → 14%SGA Youth & Family Services: $50k → 14%SGA Youth & Family Services: $25k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $40k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $40k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $40k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $35k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $35k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $50k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $50k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $25k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $25k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $25k → 14%Northwestern University Settlement: $25k → 14%Northwestern University Settlement Association: $25k → 14%Northwestern University Settlement: $25k → 14%Northwestern University Settlement: $25k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$344M · 30 repeat orgs$330k to everyone else

30 repeat relationships — 1 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
9

Total granted

$344M
$330k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+56%

Still filing today

93%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsHealthEmploymentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • IA
    ILLINOIS ARTS ALLIANCE
    5× · 2018–2022 · $210k · revenue +301%
  • THE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED
    5× · 2018–2022 · $190k · revenue +46%
  • SY
    SGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP
    3× · 2018–2020 · $175k · revenue +91%

Funded once

  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -50%
  • AB
    A Better Chicagograduated
    one grant, 2018 · $75k · revenue +76%
  • CD
    CHICAGO DANCE HISTORY PROJECTgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $35k · revenue +115% · 30% of their budget

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Chicago Cultural Alliance

The Chicago Cultural Alliances mission is to connect, promote, and support centers of cultural heritage for a more inclusive Chicago. We are an active consortium of 50 cultural heritage museums, centers, and historical societies that…

Arts & Culture
2
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
3
Chicago Votes

Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government,…

Civil Rights
4
Impact Grants Chicago

Impact Grants Chicago connects, engages and inspires women to improve the community of Chicago by collectively funding $100,000 grants to Chicago nonprofits that are dedicated to addressing the challenges facing the city.

Philanthropy
5
Third Coast International Audio Festival

To cultivate a growing international culture of listening.

Arts & Culture
6
Chicago International Film Festival Inc Cinema-Chicago

Cinema/Chicago, the non-profit 501(c)(3) presenting organization of the Chicago International Film Festival, enriches the community through year-round programming devoted to international and independent cinema. We strengthen communication…

Arts & Culture
7
United Way of Illinois

Strengthen United Way movement in Illinois

Philanthropy
8
Change Illinois Action Fund

Change illinois action fund is dedicated to advocating for solutions to the issues that undermine democracy and government efficiency in illinois, including restricted ballot access, uncompetitive elections, decreased citizen…

—
9
Chicago Media Project

To impact society through the powerful tools of media and film. we are a resource for uniting individuals interested in media and developing a core group of informed citizens.

Public Benefit
10
Chicago Parks Foundation

The Chicago Parks Foundation is a separate 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that also serves as the strategic partner for the coordination of fundraising and charitable resources for the Chicago Park District.

Recreation & Sports
11
Children's Advocates for Change

Children's advocates for change was organized to improve the lives of children in illinois by bringing about significant changes public policies and programs for children through research, policy analysis and advocacy, public education and…

Human Services
12
Live Free Chicago

Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Humanities Council Inc and the most unlike its peers is Blues Kids Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 28 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%5%<5yr14%15%5–10yr18%17%10–20yr17%22%20–35yr15%20%35–55yr16%22%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%0%10–20yr17%0%20–35yr15%98%35–55yr16%1%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/43
the rest of the field
16%
5,000/31,467

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

40 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 40 of the 43 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/40
Grantees still filing
25/40
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $340,886,564 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+16 more — $1,360,000 · OtherThe Chicago Community Trust — $2,020,000 · PhilanthropyTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $625,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION — $300,000 · Philanthropy+1 more — $100,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED — $190,000 · Human ServicesSGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP — $175,000 · Human ServicesPioneer Center for Human Services — $175,000 · Human ServicesILLINOIS PARTNERS FOR HUMAN SERVICE — $175,000 · Human ServicesNORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION — $100,000 · Human ServicesWOODSTOCK CHRISTIAN LIFE SERVICES — $90,000 · Human ServicesA Better Chicago — $75,000 · Human ServicesChicago Humanities Festival — $250,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $150,000 · Arts & CultureAudience Architects NFP dba See Chicago Dance — $135,000 · Arts & CultureTRILLIUM ARTS INC — $70,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Dancemakers Forum — $55,000 · Arts & CultureBLUES KIDS FOUNDATION — $40,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO DANCE HISTORY PROJECT — $35,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $25,000 · Arts & CulturePlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $125,000 · HealthFamily Health Partnership Clinic — $120,000 · HealthThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) — $200,000 · ReligionMETROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL — $100,000 · Community ImprovementTHE DELTA INSTITUTE — $45,000 · Community ImprovementTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WILL COUNTY — $25,000 · Community ImprovementCALUMET COLLARBORATIVE — $25,000 · Community Improvement
Other$342,246,564Philanthropy$3,045,000Human Services$980,000Arts & Culture$760,000Health$245,000Religion$200,000Community Improvement$195,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetThe Chicago Community Trust — $2,020,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $625,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetCROSSROADS FUND INC — $550,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION — $300,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Humanities Festival — $250,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetILLINOIS ARTS ALLIANCE — $210,000 over 5y, 19% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) — $200,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetTHE CHICAGO LIGHTHOUSE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED — $190,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSGA YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES NFP — $175,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetPioneer Center for Human Services — $175,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetILLINOIS PARTNERS FOR HUMAN SERVICE — $175,000 over 5y, 8.2% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $150,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAudience Architects NFP dba See Chicago Dance — $135,000 over 5y, 12% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFamily Health Partnership Clinic — $120,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetTHE CIVIC FEDERATION — $105,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetNORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION — $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMETROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL — $100,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetWOODSTOCK CHRISTIAN LIFE SERVICES — $90,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCONNECTIONS FOR THE HOMELESS INC — $80,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetFREE SPIRIT MEDIA NFP — $75,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetTRILLIUM ARTS INC — $70,000 over 3y, 43% of budgetWOMEN EMPLOYED — $55,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetChicago Dancemakers Forum — $55,000 over 3y, 7.1% of budgetTHE DELTA INSTITUTE — $45,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetAVENUES TO INDEPENDENCE — $45,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetEDWARD G IRVIN FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 2y, 8.9% of budgetAwakenings Art — $40,000 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetBLUES KIDS FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 2y, 8.4% of budgetCHICAGO DANCE HISTORY PROJECT — $35,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WILL COUNTY — $25,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCALUMET COLLARBORATIVE — $25,000 over 1y, 9.4% of budgetDISABILITY LEAD — $20,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetFairVote Minnesota — $15,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetMONEYTHINK — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Chicago Community…Gaylord and Dorothy D…John D and Catherine …Lloyd a Fry FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …Grand Victoria Founda…Field Foundation of I…Arie and Ida Crown Me…The Irving Harris Fou…Walder FoundationCircle of Service Fou…United Way of Metropo…
The Chicago Community TrustIL35.5× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Grand Victoria Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · The Irving Harris Foundation · Walder Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization PERT Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to PERT Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to PERT 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 43 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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