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Illinois · Private foundation

Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4.9M
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
15
Grants FY2025
23
Organizations funded FY2024
17%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$250,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$1,050,000
Organizations funded a year
13 to 35
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
2
Total assets, FY2025
$5.4M
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 17% of the organizations Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 12% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $625k 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesCivil RightsEducationOther
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 arriving15$4.9M27%
FY202423$5.0M17%
FY202335$5.0M51%
FY202225$3.5M28%
FY202129$4.8M66%
FY202013$1.5Mn/a
83% 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$9.5MReligion$2.9MEducation$2.0MHuman Services$1.5MHealth$985kSocial Science$897kCivil Rights$525kYouth Development$227kOther$0

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
Merit School of Music$2,050,000611%
Northlight Theatre Inc$1,265,000411%
Steppenwolf Theatre Company$750,00024%
Chicago Chesed Fund$704,42534%
Ravinia Festival Association$665,00021%
Chicago Children's Theatre$585,00057%
Timeless Gifts$475,000473%
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School$447,0002n/a
Center on Halsted$410,00042%
Tapestry 360 Health$400,00021%
Show all 30 grantees
All grantees of Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Merit School of Music$2,050,000611%
Northlight Theatre Inc$1,265,000411%
Steppenwolf Theatre Company$750,00024%
Chicago Chesed Fund$704,42534%
Ravinia Festival Association$665,00021%
Chicago Children's Theatre$585,00057%
Timeless Gifts$475,000473%
Arie Crown Hebrew Day School$447,0002n/a
Center on Halsted$410,00042%
Tapestry 360 Health$400,00021%
Changing Worlds$325,000215%
Kuumba Lynx$300,000210%
Young Chicago Authors$280,000214%
Search Inc$280,00021%
Metropolitan Family Services$250,00020%
American Jewish Committee$200,00020%
Mesivta Shaarei Adirim$200,0002n/a
Lubavitch Girls High School Inc$155,00023%
The People's Music School$150,00014%
Southside Community Center$150,0001n/a
Griffin Institute of Performing Arts Nfp$117,0002n/a
Vandercook College of Music$105,00012%
National Indo American Museum$101,000241%
Centro Romero$100,00013%
Victory Gardens Theater$100,00013%
Glenwood Academy$96,50011%
Lawrence Hall$76,60010%
Playthinks$75,0001n/a
Tizmoret Inc$50,000114%
Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago$41,50021%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 35 recipients with no EIN on record ($14M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 25 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMerit School of Music: $2,050,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetNorthlight Theatre Inc: $1,265,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetSteppenwolf Theatre Company: $750,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetChicago Chesed Fund: $704,425 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetRavinia Festival Association: $665,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetChicago Children's Theatre: $585,000 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetTimeless Gifts: $475,000 over 4y, 73% of budgetCenter on Halsted: $410,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetTapestry 360 Health: $400,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetChanging Worlds: $325,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetKuumba Lynx: $300,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetYoung Chicago Authors: $280,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetSearch Inc: $280,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services: $250,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican Jewish Committee: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLubavitch Girls High School Inc: $155,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetThe People's Music School: $150,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetVandercook College of Music: $105,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetNational Indo American Museum: $101,000 over 2y, 41% of budgetCentro Romero: $100,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetVictory Gardens Theater: $100,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetGlenwood Academy: $96,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetLawrence Hall: $76,600 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTizmoret Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetFirehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago: $41,500 over 2y, 1.2% 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 25.

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.

Polk Bros Foundation …John D and Catherine …The Chicago Community…Jewish Federation of …Ncrc Community Develo…Field Foundation of I…United Way of Metropo…Illinois Humanities C…Lloyd a Fry FoundationArie and Ida Crown Me…Prince FoundationLeague of Chicago The…
Polk Bros Foundation IncIL25.8× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Polk Bros Foundation Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · Field Foundation of Illinois · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Prince Foundation · League of Chicago Theatres Foundation

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 Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation with peer funders

About Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation

How much does Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation give?
Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation reported 15 grants totaling $4,864,600 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 13 and 35 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (38%), Religion (12%), Education (8%).
Who are Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Merit School of Music ($2.0M), Northlight Theatre Inc ($1.3M), Steppenwolf Theatre Company ($750k).
Does Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 17% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Polk Bros Foundation Inc, John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust.
Where is Ralla Klepak Performing Arts Foundation based?
Ralla Klepak Performing Arts 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 65 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

Play a game based on Ralla Klepak Performing Arts’ 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