Illinois · Private foundation
Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc
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.
- $210k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 15
- Grants FY2025
- 12
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 8%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $10,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $25,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 20
- FY2019 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 1
- Total assets, FY2025
- $2.3M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 8% of the organizations Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc funded were first-time grantees, receiving 3% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k 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 | 15 | $210k | 7% |
| FY2024 | 12 | $170k | 8% |
| FY2023 | 14 | $161k | 14% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $155k | 8% |
| FY2021 | 13 | $165k | 8% |
| FY2020 | 11 | $130k | 9% |
| FY2019 | 20 | $190k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | $185,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Field Museum of Natural History | $175,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Chicago Opera Theater | $135,000 | 7 | 1% |
| Grant Park Orchestral Association | $110,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $97,500 | 7 | 0% |
| Storycatchers | $70,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Healthy Schools Campaign | $40,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Hubbard Street Dance Chicago | $30,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Merit School of Music | $27,500 | 3 | 0% |
| Girls Inc of Chicago | $21,000 | 5 | 0% |
Show all 22 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyric Opera of Chicago | $185,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Field Museum of Natural History | $175,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Chicago Opera Theater | $135,000 | 7 | 1% |
| Grant Park Orchestral Association | $110,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $97,500 | 7 | 0% |
| Storycatchers | $70,000 | 5 | 1% |
| Healthy Schools Campaign | $40,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Hubbard Street Dance Chicago | $30,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Merit School of Music | $27,500 | 3 | 0% |
| Girls Inc of Chicago | $21,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Reading Between the Lines Nfp | $21,000 | 4 | 2% |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Classical Music Chicago | $17,500 | 4 | 1% |
| The Joffrey Ballet | $15,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc | $15,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Illinois Humanities Council Inc | $12,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Gilloury Institute | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Nois Performing Arts Organization Nfp | $10,000 | 1 | 6% |
| Playmakers Laboratory Theatre | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Victory Gardens Theater | $7,500 | 1 | 0% |
| Global Voices Initiative | $5,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Holter Museum of Art | $2,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 5 recipients with no EIN on record ($145k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc 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: Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Richard and Mary L Gray Foundation · The Poetry Foundation · John R Halligan Charitable Fund · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · The Irving Harris Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc?
Find your warmest path to Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc 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 Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc
- How much does Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc give?
- Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc reported 15 grants totaling $209,500 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 20 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2024.
- What does Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (76%), Youth Development (8%), Environment (3%).
- Who are Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2019 to FY2025: Lyric Opera of Chicago ($185k), Field Museum of Natural History ($175k), Chicago Opera Theater ($135k).
- Does Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 8% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc 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 Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Polk Bros Foundation Inc, The Chicago Community Trust, Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc.
- Where is Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc based?
- Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn Inc is based in IL.
Play a game based on Robert & Isabelle Bass Fdn’s filings →