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Renee and Edward Ross Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Renee and Edward Ross Foundation

Its FY2018 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$20M
Granted FY2018
16
Grants FY2018
4
States reached
$4.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2018.

Education$6.5MHealth$4.1MArts & Culture$3.6MScience & Tech$3.0MPhilanthropy$2.0MYouth Development$1.0MAnimals$502kCivil Rights$27kOther$0
02FY2018 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k1 grant · $1k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $125k
  • $250k+14 grants · $20M
$1,000,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$4,000,000
ST JUDES CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$2,000,000
PROVIDENCE ST MEL SCHOOL$2,000,000
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM$2,000,000
JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION$2,000,000
AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE$2,000,000
JAMES TYREE FOUNDATION$1,005,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND$1,000,000
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY$1,000,000
THE PAINTED TURTLE$1,000,000
THE FIELD MUSEUM$500,000
WTTW CHANNEL 11$500,000
LINCOLN PARK ZOO$500,000
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO$500,000
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION$124,706
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 (FY17–17, $2k) 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%HOUSE OF THE GOOD SHEPARD: $1k → 14%CJE SENIOR LIFE: $500 → 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

IL
NY
PA
CA
VA
TN
DC
GA
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$16M · 13 repeat orgs$5.2M to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2018, 0 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
34

Total granted

$16M
$182k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+76%

Still filing today

77%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2018, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalHuman ServicesHealthCivil 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

  • II
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    2× · 2017–2018 · $4.1M · revenue +27%
  • TU
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    2× · 2017–2018 · $2.1M · revenue +25%
  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    2× · 2017–2018 · $1.0M · revenue +13%

Funded once

  • JD
    JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
  • IH
    IL HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
  • BC
    BLUHM CARDIOVASCULAR INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
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
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
2
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
3
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
6
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
7
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
8
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
9
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
10
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
11
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
12
The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

Enhance the ability of actec members to provide the most efficient and highest quality services to their clients; develop qualified trust and estate counselors; improve and reform probate, trust and tax laws, procedures, and standards of…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Theatre Group Inc; the most unlike its peers is Smithsonian Institution. 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

28 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. 28 of the 51 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
22/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Providence St Mel School: $2,115,000 · OtherProvidence St Mel SchoolST JUDES CHILDRENS HOSPITAL: $2,015,000 · OtherST JUDES CHILDRENS HOSPITALJUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $2,000,000 · OtherJUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATIONJAMES TYREE FOUNDATION: $1,005,000 · OtherJAMES TYREE FOUNDATIONWTTW CHANNEL 11: $503,500 · OtherWTTW CHANNEL 11+31 more: $174,962 · OtherIllinois Institute of Technology: $4,100,000 · EducationIllinois Institute of Tech…THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $505,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICA…University of Illinois Foundation: $324,706 · EducationUniversity of Illinois Fou…The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $2,051,000 · Arts & CultureThe United States H…Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $1,002,500 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griffin M…FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $501,000 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NAT…+2 more: $5,250 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $2,000,000 · InternationalAMERICAN C…+3 more: $8,500 · InternationalJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,020,000 · PhilanthropyTHE PAINTED TURTLE: $1,006,000 · Youth DevelopmentLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $501,500 · Animals
Other$7,813,462Education$4,929,706Arts & Culture$3,559,750International$2,008,500Philanthropy$1,020,000Youth Development$1,006,000Animals$501,500

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $4,100,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetProvidence St Mel School: $2,115,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $2,051,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $2,000,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $1,020,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTHE PAINTED TURTLE: $1,006,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $1,002,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $505,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $501,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $501,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $324,706 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS & JEWS INC: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHouse of the Good Shepherd: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSEVA FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLITTLE CITY FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUptown People's Law Center: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOS CHILDREN'S VILLAGES-USA INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEALS ON WHEELS INC: $112 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA10.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 Renee and Edward Ross Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Renee and Edward Ross 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 51 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Renee and Edward Ross’ 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