· Private foundation
Sf Foundation
Its FY2024 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, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k6 grants · $85k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $175k
- $250k+2 grants · $2.2M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ST MARYS UNIVERSITY | $1,650,000 |
| FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY | $510,000 |
| PAWS CHICAGO | $65,000 |
| KOHL CHILDRENS MUSEUM | $60,000 |
| OLPH | $50,000 |
| MISERICORDIA | $25,000 |
| BIG SHOULDERS FUND | $20,000 |
| EQUESTRIAN CONNECTION | $10,000 |
| GOLF | $10,000 |
| GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY | $10,000 |
| CRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL | $10,000 |
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 (FY24–24, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 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.
12 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $60k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SASHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY5× · 2019–2023 · $10M · revenue +38%
Fairfield University6× · 2019–2024 · $7.4M · revenue +48%
ST MARYS UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA6× · 2019–2024 · $5.9M · revenue +4%
Funded once
- OLOUR LADY OF SORROWS SCHOOLone grant, 2020 · $10k
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.
Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…
The university provides a rigorous liberal arts and professional education for a diverse student population. (see schedule o for the organization's mission.)
Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.
We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.
As a jesuit catholic university committed to academic rigor, inclusive excellence, and care for the whole person, john carroll university inspires individuals of intellect and character to learn, lead and serve in the community and…
Walsh university is an independent, coeducational catholic, liberal arts and sciences institution dedicated to educating its students to become leaders in service to others through a values-based education with an international perspective…
The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…
The corporation of saint mary's college, notre dame (saint mary's) is a catholic, residential, women's, liberal arts college offering undergraduate degrees and co-educational graduate programs. (continued in schedule o)
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…
As a Catholic, Jesuit university our mission is to search for truth, discover shareknowledge, foster personal professional excellence, promote a life of faith and developleadership expressed in service to others. See Schedule O.
Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 15 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 SHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Fairfield University ↗
- Who funds ST MARYS UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ↗
- Who funds NEW YORK SAYS THANK YOU FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PAWS CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds KOHL CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF GREATER CHICAGO INC ↗
- Who funds Big Shoulders Fund ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds Equestrian Connection NFP ↗
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: Charities Aid Foundation America · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Sf Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sf Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Fairfield University: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sf Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Sf 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 Sf’s filings →