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Rauner Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Rauner Family 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.

$3.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$9.7MEducation$7.6MHousing & Shelter$2.6MCivil Rights$1.5MPhilanthropy$710kCrime & Legal$500kScience & Tech$500kArts & Culture$450kOther$0
02FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $110k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $900k
  • $250k+3 grants · $2.3M
$50,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$57M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
START EARLY$1,000,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$1,000,000
EVERGLADES FOUNDATION$250,000
ROGER BALDWIN FTDN REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$150,000
MIAMI WATERKEEPER$125,000
PARK CITY ENIORNMENTAL COUNCIL$125,000
FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION$100,000
CLIMATE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING INTIATIVE - CSEI UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$100,000
4 RANGES COMMUNITY RECREATION FOUNDATION$100,000
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER$50,000
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE - 1978 FOOTBALL PLAYERS INTERNSHIP FUND FOR THE TEEVENS C$50,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$50,000
NATURE CONSERVANCY - MT$50,000
NATIONAL PARKS & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION$25,000
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$25,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–20, $85k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE ILLINOIS MOTORCYCLE FREEDOM RUN NFP: $5k → 15%HONOR FLIGHT CHICAGO: $10k → 14%A BETTER CHICAGO: $30k → 14%BETHEL FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER: $10k → 14%A BETTER CHICAGO: $30k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
MT
IL
NY
MA
IN
CA
UT
VA
DC
MS
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$21M · 18 repeat orgs$3.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
28

Total granted

$21M
$2.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+25%

Still filing today

56%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $578k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEnvironmentHealthArts & CultureEducationCivil RightsOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • START EARLY
    7× · 2018–2024 · $6.4M · revenue +106%
  • AS
    A SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION
    4× · 2017–2020 · $2.6M · revenue +53%
  • THE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $2.3M · revenue +115%

Funded once

  • THE BAIL PROJECT INC
    one grant, 2019 · $500k · revenue -57%
  • N
    NARAL
    one grant, 2018 · $500k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $250k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
2
Alliance for Sustainable Energy Llc

The mission of the alliance for sustainable energy llc (alliance) is to operate the u.s. department of energy's national renewable energy laboratory to advance the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation,…

Science & Tech
3
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
4
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
5
Target Als Foundation Inc

Our mission is to break down barriers to als research to find effective treatments. by uniting academia, the pharma and biotech industry, government, venture capital, related nonprofits, and the als community, we aim to overcome the…

Education
6
Business Executives for National Security

Bens applies industry experience and best business practices to help address our nation's pressing national security challenges.

International
7
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
8
National Opinion Research Center

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…

Social Science
9
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
10
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
11
The Adler Planetarium

The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…

Arts & Culture
12
Fresh Energy

Shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Independent Sector; the most unlike its peers is The Illinois Motorcycle Freedom Run. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

37 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. 37 of the 59 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
34/37
Grantees still filing
24/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

START EARLY: $6,425,000 · OtherSTART EARLYENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND: $3,670,000 · OtherENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUNDNATURE CONSERVANCY - FL (ST THERESA BLUFFS): $1,750,000 · OtherNATURE CONSERVANCY - FL (ST THERESA BLUFFS)ROGER BALDWIN FTDN REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: $800,000 · Other+36 more: $3,473,020 · Other+36 moreTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $2,250,000 · EnvironmentTHE EVERGLADES FO…NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,425,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL PARKS CO…+2 more: $175,000 · EnvironmentA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION: $2,600,000 · HealthA SAFE HAVEN…BREAKTHROUGH T1D: $225,000 · HealthBREAKTHROUGH…+2 more: $50,000 · HealthFOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION INC: $600,000 · EducationTrustees of Dartmouth College: $250,000 · EducationNational Louis University: $100,000 · EducationLawndale Educational and Regional Network Charter School: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $25,000 · EducationTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $500,000 · Crime & LegalILLINOIS STATE POLICE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Arts & CultureThe Shane Lalani Center for the Arts: $100,000 · Arts & CultureJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureVANDALIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $275,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$16,118,020Environment$3,850,000Health$2,875,000Education$1,075,000Crime & Legal$500,000Arts & Culture$450,000Food & Nutrition$275,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSTART EARLY: $6,425,000 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION: $2,600,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $2,250,000 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,425,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION INC: $600,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $500,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $275,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREEK AMERICAN REHABILITATION AND CARE CENTRE: $250,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetILLINOIS STATE POLICE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 59% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $225,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBISCAYNE BAY WATERKEEPER INC: $125,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTHE RED SOX FOUNDATION INC: $120,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetNational Louis University: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Shane Lalani Center for the Arts: $100,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budget4 RANGES COMMUNITY RECREATION FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetLawndale Educational and Regional Network Charter School: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetA Better Chicago: $60,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO BAPTIST INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF RANDOLPH COUNTY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHIPPOCRATIC CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDEPENDENT SECTOR: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCaring Patriots NFP Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetPickles Group Inc: $3,020 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
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.

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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Chicago Community…Arie and Ida Crown Me…American Endowment Fo…National Philanthropi…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Blackbaud Giving …The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Network for GoodDonor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY14.5× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Network for Good · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Rauner Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rauner Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 19%
  • Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper Inc: 19% of income from government
  • The Red Sox Foundation Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Rauner Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Rauner 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.

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 59 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Rauner Family’s 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