· Private foundation
Robert G Weiss Family Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k20 grants · $12k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $60k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MERYL SUZANNE WEISS FUND | $60,000 |
| CHICAGO HUMANITIES FESTIVAL | $3,000 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $1,300 |
| CAMP THUNDERBIRD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION | $1,050 |
| OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC | $1,000 |
| JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO | $1,000 |
| WBEZ | $750 |
| STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY | $678 |
| AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY | $500 |
| AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION | $500 |
| KHECARI | $500 |
| ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION | $500 |
| SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB | $465 |
| CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN | $388 |
| CJE SENIOR LIFE'S LIEBERMAN CENTER | $180 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 63% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.
44 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 31 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LOLyric Opera of Chicago3× · 2017–2019 · $169k · revenue +33%
- TSTHE SANTA FE OPERA3× · 2017–2019 · $104k · revenue +84%
University of Chicago4× · 2017–2020 · $60k · revenue +56%
Funded once
- COCHABAD OF ISRAEL TORAHone grant, 2023 · $25k
- COCHICAGO OPERA THEATERone grant, 2017 · $6k · revenue -18%
- MOMUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +79%
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.
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.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.
The chicago theatre group is committed to producing both classic and contemporary works giving full voice to a wide range of artists and visions. by dedicating itself to three guiding principles - quality, equity, and community - the…
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…
Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…
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…
To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.
To create vivid, entertaining theatrical experiences that invigorate and engage people of all ages and identities by illuminating the complexity, ambiguity, and wonder of our world. shared humanity and unforgettable stories - now this is…
Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…
How this is measured
60 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. 60 of the 87 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 MERYL SUZANNE WEISS FUND ↗
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds THE SANTA FE OPERA ↗
- Who funds University of Chicago ↗
- Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds Chicago Humanities Festival ↗
- Who funds OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC ↗
- Who funds Claremont McKenna College ↗
- Who funds Khecari ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO OPERA THEATER ↗
- Who funds GRANT PARK ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds KENYON COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Chicago Dancemakers Forum ↗
- Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC ↗
- Who funds Rush University Medical Center ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds GROWING HOME INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER ↗
- Who funds LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER ↗
- Who funds International Council for Small Business George Wash Univ Sch of Business ↗
- Who funds Franciscan Community Benefit Services ↗
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: The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · Walder Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Arkes Family Foundation · Builders Vision Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Robert G Weiss Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert G Weiss Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Robert G Weiss Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Robert G Weiss 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.
Play a game based on Robert G Weiss Family’s filings →