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Sacks Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sacks 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.

$7.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
53
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$1.1M
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$13MPublic Benefit$9.0MArts & Culture$7.9MRecreation & Sports$6.2MPhilanthropy$5.4MHealth$3.6MReligion$1.2MCivil Rights$800kOther$0
02FY2025 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $345k
  • $50k–250k19 grants · $1.9M
  • $250k+9 grants · $4.8M
$50,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$3.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$1,077,500
THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION$1,000,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND$600,000
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$500,000
TULANE UNIVERSITY$500,000
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION$375,000
HOPE CHICAGO INC$250,000
EB RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP$250,000
ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION$250,000
STEPPENWOLF THEATRE CO$215,000
BREAKING THROUGH INC$200,000
HYDE PARK ART CENTER$200,000
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART$170,000
THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO$125,000
SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITY LAB$100,000
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 (FY17–25, $505k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 87% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%INSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS THE: $15k → 8%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL: $50k → 14%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL: $50k → 14%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL: $25k → 14%JACARANDA FOUNDATION: $5k → 17%REBECCA COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $25k → 8%REBECCA COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $25k → 8%TRI-CON CHILD CARE CENTER INC: $1k → 8%BRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION NFP: $25k → 14%INSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS THE: $15k → 14%INSIGHT PROJECT FOR KIDS: $13k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $30k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $30k → 14%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERS OF CHICAGO: $30k → 14%ORCHARD VILLAGE: $10k → 14%ORCHARD VILLAGE: $10k → 14%ORCHARD VILLAGE: $10k → 14%ORCHARD VILLAGE: $10k → 14%CHICAGO CHILD CARE SOCIETY: $1k → 14%THE GROWING SEASON: $25k → 14%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL: $50k → 14%CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL: $25k → 14%DEVICES 4 THE DISABLED: $25k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
WI
NY
IN
OH
PA
CA
CO
VA
MD
NC
DC
LA
GA
FL
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$47M · 93 repeat orgs$2.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

93 repeat relationships: 39 still active in FY2025, 54 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

93
71

Total granted

$47M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+26%

Still filing today

75%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $967k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesInternationalYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • Northwestern University
    9× · 2017–2025 · $6.2M · revenue +41%
  • TA
    THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND
    9× · 2017–2025 · $4.5M · revenue +72%
  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    6× · 2017–2025 · $3.7M · revenue +13%

Funded once

  • SN
    SHRIVER NATIONAL CENTER ON POVERTY LAW THE
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
  • NU
    NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
  • LR
    LIGHTHOUSE RESIDENCES
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
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
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
5
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
6
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
7
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
8
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Committed to exceptional healthcare quality for all and actively engaged with our community, einstein drives scientific discovery and educates compassionate leaders in health and science.

Education
9
National Opinion Research Center

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…

Social Science
10
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
11
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
12
University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Defying Legal Gravity. 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

138 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 138 of the 185 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
25
Early backer (in before they grew)
137/138
Grantees still filing
96/138
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $9,000,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATIONMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $1,666,761 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY: $1,320,000 · Arts & CultureSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANYHYDE PARK ART CENTER: $845,000 · Arts & CultureHYDE PARK ART CENTERHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $826,500 · Arts & CultureHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF IL…+22 more: $1,760,500 · Arts & Culture+22 moreTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $4,550,000 · EducationTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE …University of Chicago: $2,600,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $1,767,500 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICA…Erikson Institute: $800,000 · EducationErikson InstituteTeach for America Inc: $725,000 · EducationTeach for America Inc+15 more: $1,034,500 · Education+15 moreNorthwestern University: $6,197,500 · Recreation & SportsNorthwestern U…HOPE CHICAGO INC: $1,000,000 · OtherHOPE CHICAGO INCNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $920,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMOR…AM SHALOM: $777,300 · OtherAM SHALOMSTART EARLY: $650,000 · OtherSTART EARLYEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $400,000 · Other+104 more: $4,418,200 · Other+104 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $3,701,018 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UN…Highland Park Community Foundation: $140,000 · Philanthropy+9 more: $122,900 · PhilanthropyBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · HealthRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $650,000 · HealthEisenhower Medical Center: $500,000 · HealthPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $500,000 · HealthEB RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP INC: $250,000 · HealthLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $200,000 · HealthTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $150,000 · HealthHELPHOPELIVE INC: $125,000 · Health+6 more: $22,300 · HealthANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION: $400,000 · Civil RightsBREAKING THROUGH INC: $200,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $50,000 · Civil Rights
Arts & Culture$15,418,761Education$11,477,000Recreation & Sports$6,197,500Other$8,165,500Philanthropy$3,963,918Health$3,397,300Civil Rights$650,000

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 budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $9,000,000 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetNorthwestern University: $6,197,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $4,550,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $3,701,018 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $2,600,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $1,767,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $1,666,761 over 9y, 1.2% of budgetSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY: $1,320,000 over 8y, 2.0% of budgetHOPE CHICAGO INC: $1,000,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetBILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetHYDE PARK ART CENTER: $845,000 over 7y, 8.1% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC: $826,500 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetErikson Institute: $800,000 over 9y, 0.5% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $725,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSTART EARLY: $650,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $650,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetEisenhower Medical Center: $500,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $500,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $410,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $400,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetBERNARD ZELL ANSHE EMET DAY SCHOOL: $250,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetTHE ELLINGTON FUND: $250,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $250,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD ALLERGY RESEARCH & EDUCATION INC: $250,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $225,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL INC: $200,000 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $200,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $170,000 over 7y, 5.8% of budgetChicago Children's Museum: $165,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetWE WOMEN EMPOWERD INC OF CHICAGO: $150,000 over 2y, 47% of budgetTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO: $150,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetODA FOUNDATION: $145,000 over 5y, 16% of budgetHighland Park Community Foundation: $140,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO: $125,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetHELPHOPELIVE INC: $125,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $122,000 over 6y, 1.7% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC: $110,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $95,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $95,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetYouth Guidance: $95,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetJewish Community Centers of Chicago: $90,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEmory University: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLYNN SAGE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION: $61,250 over 6y, 1.2% 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 THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
  • Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds HOPE CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds BILL HILLARY & CHELSEA CLINTON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds HYDE PARK ART CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC ↗
  • Who funds Erikson Institute ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds START EARLY ↗
  • Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds Eisenhower Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds Planned Parenthood of Illinois ↗
  • Who funds The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ↗
  • Who funds EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds BERNARD ZELL ANSHE EMET DAY SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE ELLINGTON FUND ↗
  • Who funds EB RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP INC ↗
  • Who funds JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ↗
  • Who funds FOOD ALLERGY RESEARCH & EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES ↗
  • Who funds BREAKING THROUGH INC ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL INC ↗
  • Who funds LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH ↗
  • Who funds DIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Children's Museum ↗
  • Who funds WE WOMEN EMPOWERD INC OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗

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.

Jewish Federation of …Jarvis FoundationCircle of Service Fou…The Chicago Community…Kovler Family Foundat…Polk Bros Foundation …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Lloyd a Fry FoundationJohn D and Catherine …The Bluhm Family Foun…AbbVie FoundationThe Sidley Austin Fou…
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL51.7× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Jarvis Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Kovler Family Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Bluhm Family Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Sidley Austin 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 Sacks Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sacks Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 88%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
31report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 Sacks Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Sacks 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.

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 185 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 Sacks Family’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