Illinois · Private foundation
Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $1.2M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 18
- Grants FY2025
- 20
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 30%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $8,150
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $832,460
- Organizations funded a year
- 17 to 20
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 5
- Total assets, FY2025
- $19M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 30% of the organizations Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 2% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k 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 | 17 | $1.2M | 47% |
| FY2024 | 20 | $1.1M | 30% |
| FY2023 | 19 | $979k | 26% |
| FY2022 | 20 | $851k | 35% |
| FY2021 | 17 | $674k | 41% |
| FY2020 | 18 | $613k | 39% |
| FY2019 | 19 | $543k | 32% |
| FY2018 | 20 | $517k | 50% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois Wesleyan University | $2,659,000 | 9 | 1% |
| Carle Cancer Institute Normal LLC | $144,000 | 2 | 1% |
| The Arts Campus at Willits | $108,700 | 9 | 2% |
| Community Cancer Center Foundation | $72,000 | 1 | 14% |
| Beyond the Books Educational Foundation | $60,000 | 6 | 15% |
| Books and Breakfast | $47,500 | 4 | 3% |
| McLean County Arts Center | $29,500 | 7 | 3% |
| Illinois Art Station | $26,353 | 5 | 4% |
| McLean County Historical Society | $25,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Lifelong Access | $23,500 | 6 | 0% |
Show all 45 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 30 recipients with no EIN on record ($3.5M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation 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: Snyder Family Foundation Nfp · Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Inc · Parker Kemp Foundation · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · The Owen Foundation · Paul a Funk Foundation · The Growmark Foundation · Stephen S and Anne E K Matter Foundation · Breitweiser Family Foundation Inc · United Way of McLean County · Carl R Hendrickson Family Fdn · The Ayco Charitable Foundation
How this is measured
Compare Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation with peer funders
About Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation
- How much does Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation give?
- Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation reported 18 grants totaling $1,204,241 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 17 and 20 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Human Services (47%), Education (41%), Arts & Culture (4%).
- Who are Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Illinois Wesleyan University ($2.7M), Carle Cancer Institute Normal LLC ($144k), The Arts Campus at Willits ($109k).
- Does Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 30% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Snyder Family Foundation Nfp, Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Inc, Parker Kemp Foundation.
- Where is Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation based?
- Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Russell and Betty Shirk’s filings →