· Private foundation
Robert M and Barbara G Thomas 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 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Individual grant recipient | $500 |
| Chicago Food Depository | $250 |
| Mercy Home for Boys and Girls | $250 |
| Catholic Charities | $250 |
| Northern Illinois Food Bank | $250 |
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 (FY19–19, $50) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
8 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 3 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, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $750 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- IGIndividual grant recipient6× · 2020–2025 · $6k
- DMDANIEL MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP FDTN2× · 2017–2018 · $4k
- ICImmaculate Conception Parish4× · 2019–2022 · $1k
Funded once
- HFHABITAT FOR HUMANITY LAKE COUNTYgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $125 · revenue +95%
- HFHabitat for Humanityone grant, 2024 · $100
- HIHeifer Internationalone grant, 2020 · $100
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.
Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.
Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)
Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.
To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.
The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.
The endowment works collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation's working forests and forest reliant communities.
This member-supported organization protects and restores iowa's land, water and wildlife for future generations. priorities include permanent land protection, promotion of improved land management and bringing new conservation…
Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.
Nacwa is the national voice of public clean water utilities, shaping water policy, convening a vibrant peer network, and empowering water leaders.
The mission of heartlands conservancy is to empower and colaborate with the people of southern illinois to advance and protect the health of our distinctive communities and nationally significant natural and cultural resources.
To sustain, restore, and enhance the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats.
American rivers is championing a national effort to protect and restore all rivers, from remote mountain streams to urban waterways. healthy rivers provide people and nature with clean, abundant water and natural habitat. for 50 years,…
How this is measured
11 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. 11 of the 26 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 THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds HABITAT FOR HUMANITY LAKE COUNTY ↗
- Who funds THE RIVER ALLIANCE OF WISCONSIN INC ↗
- Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds OPENLANDS ↗
- Who funds FOSTER PET OUTREACH ↗
- Who funds Charity Navigator ↗
- Who funds ORPHANS OF THE STORM ↗
- Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED INC ↗
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Robert M and Barbara G Thomas Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert M and Barbara G Thomas Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Robert M and Barbara G Thomas Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Robert M and Barbara G Thomas 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 M and Barbara G Thomas’ filings →