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Roth Brothers Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Roth Brothers Charitable Trust

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.

$500
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$500
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Human Services$46kPhilanthropy$21kEducation$16kPublic Safety & Disaster$12kArts & Culture$10kCrime & Legal$5kAnimals$5kCivil Rights$4k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
1
States reached
$34k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Anti-Defamation League$500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 87% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LawRocks Inc: $7k → 14%Life Jacket Theatre: $3k → 17%US Holocaust Memorial Museum: $3k → 8%Lincoln Park Zoological Society: $3k → 14%America's Charities: $12k → 6%Lincoln Park Zoological Society: $2k → 14%Francis Parker School: $500 → 14%Illinois Action for Children: $2k → 14%Friends of Historic Second Church: $3k → 14%Friends of Historic Second Church: $2k → 14%Working in the Schools: $15k → 14%Jewish Child Family Services: $15k → 14%Jewish Child Family Services: $11k → 14%Jewish Child Family Services: $10k → 14%Jewish Child Family Services: $5k → 14%Jewish Child Family Services: $5k → 14%Jewish United Fund: $500 → 14%Lester S Abelson Foundation: $13k → 14%Chicago Bar Foundation: $5k → 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.
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.

48%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$56k · 4 repeat orgs$61k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
10

Total granted

$56k
$61k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-7%
+34%

Still filing today

75%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’23’24’25
EducationPhilanthropyCivil RightsAnimalsReligionArts & CultureOther
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

  • JC
    Jewish Child Family Services
    5× · 2019–2024 · $46k
  • LP
    LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $5k · revenue +4%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF HISTORIC SECOND CHURCH
    2× · 2023–2024 · $4k · revenue -7%

Funded once

  • WI
    WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC
    one grant, 2024 · $15k · revenue +10%
  • LS
    LESTER S ABELSON FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $13k
  • AC
    AMERICA'S CHARITIES
    one grant, 2020 · $12k · revenue +14%
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
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
2
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
3
Association of American Law Schools Inc

The association of american law schools' mission is to uphold and advance excellence in legal education.

Education
4
Chicago Historical Society

The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…

Arts & Culture
5
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
6
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
7
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
8
American Society of International Law

To foster the study of international law and to promote international relations on the basis of law and justice.

International
9
University of Illinois Foundation

The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is an independent and separate nonprofit entity from the University of Illinois. Our mission is to encourage and administer private gifts and serve the UI System by working closely with…

Education
10
United States Capitol Historical Society

Today, with the formal approval of congress, the society continues exploring and instituting new and creative ways to bring the fascinating story of the capitol, its institutions and america's unique history to people across the nation and…

Arts & Culture
11
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
12
American Constitution Society for Law & Policy

The american constitution society for law and policy (acs) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is America's Charities; the most unlike its peers is Lester S Abelson 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

12 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. 12 of the 14 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
9/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Jewish Child Family Services: $45,750 · OtherJewish Child Family ServicesLESTER S ABELSON FOUNDATION: $13,278 · OtherLESTER S ABELSON FOUNDATIONAMERICA'S CHARITIES: $12,000 · OtherAMERICA'S CHARITIESLife Jacket Theatre: $3,000 · Other+1 more: $2,000 · OtherWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $15,000 · EducationWORKING IN THE SCHO…THE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationTHE CHICAGO BAR FOU…+1 more: $500 · EducationLAW ROCKS INC: $7,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $500 · PhilanthropyLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $4,500 · AnimalsFRIENDS OF HISTORIC SECOND CHURCH: $4,000 · ReligionThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $2,500 · Arts & CultureANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $1,500 · Civil Rights
Other$76,028Education$20,500Philanthropy$7,500Animals$4,500Religion$4,000Arts & Culture$2,500Civil Rights$1,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAMERICA'S CHARITIES: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAW ROCKS INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CHICAGO BAR FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF HISTORIC SECOND CHURCH: $4,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIllinois Action for Children: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFrancis W Parker School: $500 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.

The Chicago Community…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL12.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · 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 Roth Brothers Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Roth Brothers Charitable Trust. 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%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Roth Brothers Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Roth Brothers Charitable Trust 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 14 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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