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Robert G Shaw Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Robert G Shaw 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.

$31k
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$213kReligion$49kArts & Culture$25kHealth$8kCrime & Legal$6kHuman Services$6kFood & Nutrition$4kEnvironment$3kOther$0
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k27 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$225
Median grant
8
States reached
$306k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY$10,000
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$6,700
BELOIT COLLEGE$6,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$2,000
CITADEL THEATRE$750
GPF FOUNDATION$600
BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE$500
LAKE FOREST-LAKE BLUFF HISTORICAL SOCIETY$450
CHICAGO BOTANICAL GARDEN$361
NORTH SHORE COMMUNITY PARTNERS$250
LAKE COUNTY SPONSORS$250
FARAJA FUND FOUNDATION$250
READING POWER$250
LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION$225
ALZHEIMERS ASSOCIATION$200
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 (FY17–24, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 1% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BOYS TOWN: $30 → 12%BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE: $600 → 9%BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE: $500 → 9%BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE: $361 → 9%BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE: $350 → 9%BEN'S LIGHTHOUSE: $350 → 9%FOREST PARK PROJECT: $2k → 8%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
WI
NY
IN
PA
CT
CA
CO
NE
NC
DC
GA
TX
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$306k · 46 repeat orgs$7k to everyone else

46 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 24 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

46
21

Total granted

$306k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+35%

Still filing today

57%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $565 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
Arts & CultureHealthEducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BELOIT COLLEGE
    7× · 2017–2024 · $97k · revenue +6%
  • CM
    Carnegie Mellon University
    8× · 2017–2024 · $43k · revenue +15%
  • HC
    History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff
    8× · 2017–2024 · $19k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • FP
    FOREST PARK CONSERVANCY FKA FOREST PARK PRESERVATION CORPORATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue +49%
  • MP
    McCINLOCK POST 264 FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $1k
  • SP
    SAGE PATIENT ADVOCATES
    one grant, 2020 · $500 · revenue -21%
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
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
2
Lake Forest Academy

Lake forest academy strives to embody in its practices - and to cultivate in its students -excellence of character, scholarship, citizenship, and responsibility.

Education
3
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
4
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
5
Conservation International Foundation

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

Environment
6
Lincoln Park Zoological Society

Lincoln park zoo is dedicated to connecting people with nature by providing a free, family-oriented wildlife experience in the heart of chicago and by advancing the highest quality of animal care, horticulture, education, science and…

Animals
7
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
8
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
9
Society for Neuroscience

Sfn's mission is to: 1. advance the understanding of the brain and the nervous system by bringing together scientists of all segments of neuroscience, by facilitating the integration of research directed at all levels of biological…

Health
10
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
11
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
12
American Academy of Neurology

The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Horticultural Society; the most unlike its peers is Faraja Fund Foundation. 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

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 73 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/44
Grantees still filing
30/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $47,100 · OtherFIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHCarnegie Mellon University: $42,500 · OtherCarnegie Mellon UniversityUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $40,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff: $18,750 · OtherHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake BluffIndividual grant recipient: $14,900 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+45 more: $28,835 · Other+45 moreBELOIT COLLEGE: $97,100 · EducationBELOIT COLLEGETHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $31,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFOR…+3 more: $2,800 · EducationELAWA FARM FOUNDATION: $3,200 · Arts & CultureCITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $1,800 · Arts & CultureTHE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA: $550 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $515 · Arts & CultureCHRISTIAN LEGAL CLINICS OF PHILADELPHIA INC: $6,000 · Crime & LegalBENS LIGHTHOUSE INC: $2,161 · Human ServicesFOREST PARK CONSERVANCY FKA FOREST PARK PRESERVATION CORPORATION: $2,000 · Human Services+1 more: $30 · Human ServicesALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,500 · HealthBOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $750 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $300 · HealthPADS Lake County Inc: $200 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $200 · HealthFARAJA FUND FOUNDATION: $1,800 · PhilanthropySAGE PATIENT ADVOCATES: $500 · Philanthropy
Other$192,085Education$130,900Arts & Culture$6,065Crime & Legal$6,000Human Services$4,191Health$2,950Philanthropy$2,300

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $97,100 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $42,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $31,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff: $18,750 over 8y, 0.7% of budgetCHRISTIAN LEGAL CLINICS OF PHILADELPHIA INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetELAWA FARM FOUNDATION: $3,200 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetBENS LIGHTHOUSE INC: $2,161 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetFOREST PARK CONSERVANCY FKA FOREST PARK PRESERVATION CORPORATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGPF FOUNDATION: $1,900 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetCITADEL THEATRE COMPANY: $1,800 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFARAJA FUND FOUNDATION: $1,800 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetREADING POWER INC: $1,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTER: $1,100 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetART IMPACT PROJECT NOT FOR PROFIT: $1,050 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $1,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAVIELLE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION: $975 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $796 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $750 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE COUNTY SPONSORS: $750 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNorth Chicago Community Partners: $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCAREER RESOURCE CENTER INC: $700 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA: $550 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAGE PATIENT ADVOCATES: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS ILLINOIS: $400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST FOUNDATION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $300 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPADS Lake County Inc: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPALM HARBOR HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $200 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMcHenry County Conservation Foundation: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COVE SCHOOL INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGICHIGAMIIN INDIGENOUS NATIONS MUSEUM INC: $160 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA WEST COAST PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $105 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGAMAE INTERNATIONAL INC: $100 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetLEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $75 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAILS TO TRAILS CONSERVANCY: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMusic For All Inc: $50 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFather Flanagan's Boys' Home: $30 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.

  • Who funds BELOIT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Carnegie Mellon University ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff ↗
  • Who funds CHRISTIAN LEGAL CLINICS OF PHILADELPHIA INC ↗
  • Who funds ELAWA FARM FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BENS LIGHTHOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds FOREST PARK CONSERVANCY FKA FOREST PARK PRESERVATION CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds GPF FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CITADEL THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds FARAJA FUND FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds READING POWER INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE COUNTY CRISIS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ART IMPACT PROJECT NOT FOR PROFIT ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds AVIELLE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds LAKE FOREST OPEN LANDS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds BOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LAKE COUNTY SPONSORS ↗
  • Who funds North Chicago Community Partners ↗
  • Who funds CAREER RESOURCE CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA ↗
  • Who funds SAGE PATIENT ADVOCATES ↗

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.

The Chicago Community…Clarks Fork FoundationThe Grainger Foundati…Butler Family Foundat…Anne Hunting Foundati…Little Orchard Founda…Schultz Family Privat…Harold M & Adeline S …John and Kathleen Sch…AbbVie FoundationHunter Family Foundat…Hunting Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL22.9× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Clarks Fork Foundation · The Grainger Foundation Inc · Butler Family Foundation · Anne Hunting Foundation · Little Orchard Foundation · Schultz Family Private Foundation · Harold M & Adeline S Morrison Family Foundation · John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy · AbbVie Foundation · Hunter Family Foundation · Hunting 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 Robert G Shaw Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert G Shaw Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    8report 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
    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 Robert G Shaw Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Robert G Shaw 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 73 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 Robert G Shaw 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