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Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$832k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Human Services$3.3MEducation$2.9MArts & Culture$290kHealth$235kPhilanthropy$87kRecreation & Sports$61kCommunity Improvement$38kPublic Safety & Disaster$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $82k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.1M
$8,150
Median grant
5
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
B-N YMCA Charitable Foundation NFP$832,460
Illinois Wesleyan University$250,000
Prairie Cities Soccer League$20,000
Illinois Prairie Community Foundation$14,281
Illinois State University$13,850
The Arts Campus at Willits$13,700
West Point School of Music$10,000
Beyond the Books Educational Foundation$10,000
ISU Foundation$8,150
Chicago Fair Trade$5,000
Town of Normal Childrens Discovery Museum$5,000
Healthnetwork Foundation$5,000
University of Illinois$4,000
Simmons University$4,000
Young Life$3,000
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 (FY20–25, $32k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 16% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Healthnetwork Foundation: $5k → 17%Marsfirst: $6k → 11%Marcfirst: $5k → 11%Marcfirst: $5k → 11%Marcfirst: $3k → 11%Lifelong Access: $3k → 11%Lifelong Access: $3k → 11%Network of Us: $4k → 11%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
MI
MA
OH
PA
CA
CO
TN
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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.9M · 32 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

32 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 23 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
35

Total granted

$5.9M
$204k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+16%

Still filing today

50%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 26% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $879k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • IW
    ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.7M · revenue +14%
  • TA
    THE ARTS CAMPUS AT WILLITS
    9× · 2017–2025 · $109k · revenue +411%
  • BA
    BOOKS AND BREAKFAST
    4× · 2020–2024 · $48k · revenue +247%

Funded once

  • CC
    Community Cancer Center Foundation
    one grant, 2019 · $72k · revenue -12%
  • IT
    ISU Thomas Metcalf School
    one grant, 2018 · $14k
  • OS
    OPEN STUDIO PROJECT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +91%
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
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
2
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
3
Carle BroMenn Medical Center

To be the trusted partner in all healthcare decisions and improve health by proviidng highly accessible, world-class care and services.

Health
4
Methodist Medical Center of Illinois

To be the trusted partner in all healthcare decisions and to improve health by providing highly accessible, world-class care and services.

Health
5
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
6
Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation
Human Services
7
Mchc Chicago Hospital Council

The mission of mchc chicago hospital council is to foster, promote, support, develop and encourage charitable, educational, scholastic and scientific purposes; promote cooperative effort and action between hospitals and other health care…

Health
8
Concordia University Chicago

Steadfast in jesus christ as revealed in the holy scriptures, concordia university chicago promotes academic rigor in its liberal arts and professional programs; grounds students in objective truth, integrity, and excellence; and practices…

Education
9
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
10
Chicago Charter School Foundation

Our vibrant network of diverse chicago charter schools enables students to thrive every day, puts them on a path to success in college and life, and empowers entrepreneurial educators to pursue excellence through innovation.

Education
11
University of Illinois Alumni Association

The mission of the university of illinois alumni association is to enhance and advance the relationship between the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (the university) and all its alumni; to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among…

—
12
Loyola University Medical Center

We, loyola university health system and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.lumc is a member of loyola university health system and trinity…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Illinois Prairie Community Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Bloomington-Normal Mulberry School Corp. 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, 2017–2025.

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. 44 of the 76 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/44
Grantees still filing
25/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

B-N Charitable Foundation NFP: $1,461,705 · OtherB-N Charitable Foundation NFPB-N YMCA Charitable Foundation: $975,638 · OtherB-N YMCA Charitable FoundationB-N YMCA Charitable Foundation NFP: $832,460 · OtherB-N YMCA Charitable Foundation NFPCarle Cancer Institute Normal LLC: $144,000 · Other+45 more: $435,485 · Other+45 moreILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $2,659,000 · EducationILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY+11 more: $174,200 · Education+11 moreTHE ARTS CAMPUS AT WILLITS: $108,700 · Arts & CultureMCLEAN COUNTY ARTS CENTER: $29,500 · Arts & CultureMCLEAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25,000 · Arts & CultureINTONATION MUSIC WORKSHOP: $23,000 · Arts & CultureDAVID DAVIS MANSION FOUNDATION: $22,300 · Arts & CultureOPEN STUDIO PROJECT INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureILLINOIS PRAIRIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $81,693 · PhilanthropyPARTNERS FOR COMMUNITY INC: $3,000 · PhilanthropyLIFELONG ACCESS: $23,500 · Human ServicesHEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesNETWORK OF US INC: $3,500 · Human ServicesPRAIRIE CITIES SOCCER LEAGUE INC: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsPickles Group Inc: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG LIFE: $3,000 · Youth DevelopmentGirls on the Run of Central Illinois: $2,500 · Youth Development
Other$3,849,288Education$2,833,200Arts & Culture$218,500Philanthropy$84,693Human Services$32,000Recreation & Sports$20,000Youth Development$10,500

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 budgetILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $2,659,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetCarle Cancer Institute Normal LLC: $144,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE ARTS CAMPUS AT WILLITS: $108,700 over 9y, 2.3% of budgetILLINOIS PRAIRIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $81,693 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetCommunity Cancer Center Foundation: $72,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetBEYOND THE BOOKS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 6y, 15% of budgetBOOKS AND BREAKFAST: $47,500 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetMCLEAN COUNTY ARTS CENTER: $29,500 over 7y, 2.7% of budgetILLINOIS ART STATION: $26,353 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetMCLEAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetLIFELONG ACCESS: $23,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetINTONATION MUSIC WORKSHOP: $23,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetDAVID DAVIS MANSION FOUNDATION: $22,300 over 8y, 3.8% of budgetPRAIRIE CITIES SOCCER LEAGUE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSIMMONS UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMCLEAN CO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $18,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $12,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPEN STUDIO PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetTHE ACADEMY AT ST JOAN OF ARC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL: $5,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetChicago Fair Trade: $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetHEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPickles Group Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF CONSTITUTION TRAIL: $5,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetMCLEAN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetREGENTS OF THE MERCERSBURG COLLEGE: $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LINCOLN ACADEMY OF ILLINOIS: $3,700 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNETWORK OF US INC: $3,500 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetPARTNERS FOR COMMUNITY INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAUTISM MCLEAN: $2,500 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOMINGTON-NORMAL MULBERRY SCHOOL CORP: $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY HEALTH CARE CLINIC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEASTER SEALS INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILESTONES EARLY LEARNING CENTER & PRESCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOSF Healthcare Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEisenhower Medical Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN AVENUE COMMUNITY CENTER: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $250 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 ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Carle Cancer Institute Normal LLC ↗
  • Who funds THE ARTS CAMPUS AT WILLITS ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS PRAIRIE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Community Cancer Center Foundation ↗
  • Who funds BEYOND THE BOOKS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOOKS AND BREAKFAST ↗
  • Who funds MCLEAN COUNTY ARTS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS ART STATION ↗
  • Who funds MCLEAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds LIFELONG ACCESS ↗
  • Who funds INTONATION MUSIC WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds DAVID DAVIS MANSION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PRAIRIE CITIES SOCCER LEAGUE INC ↗
  • Who funds SIMMONS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MCLEAN CO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ↗
  • Who funds University of Illinois Foundation ↗
  • Who funds WEST POINT FELLOWSHIP INC DBA WEST POINT SCHOOL OF MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds AUGUSTANA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds OPEN STUDIO PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ACADEMY AT ST JOAN OF ARC ↗
  • Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL ↗

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.

Snyder Family Foundat…Illinois Prairie Comm…Parker Kemp FoundationCommerce Bancshares F…The Owen FoundationPaul a Funk FoundationThe Growmark Foundati…Stephen S and Anne E …Breitweiser Family Fo…United Way of McLean …Carl R Hendrickson Fa…The Ayco Charitable F…
Snyder Family Foundation NfpIL30.6× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Russell and Betty Shirk Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Simmons University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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.

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 76 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

Play a game based on Russell and Betty Shirk’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