· Private foundation
Sirius Fund
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k70 grants · $161k
- $10k–50k28 grants · $523k
- $50k–250k11 grants · $871k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $108,000 |
| NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION | $100,000 |
| SHEDD AQUARIUM | $100,000 |
| RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER | $100,000 |
| THE ADVOCATES | $100,000 |
| THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY | $75,000 |
| LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO - GIFT PROCESSING | $75,000 |
| SUN VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL | $62,500 |
| ROSALIND FRANKLIN UNIVERSITY (ATTN WENDY RHEAULT) | $50,000 |
| ST LUKE'S WOOD RIVER FOUNDATION | $50,000 |
| MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $50,000 |
| CHILDRENS ADVOCACY OF NORTH AND NORTHWEST COOK COUNTY | $40,000 |
| CHILDRENS ADVOCACY OF NORTH AND NORTHWEST COOK COUNTY | $31,340 |
| SEMESTER AT SEA | $30,000 |
| NATURE CONSERVANCY - IDAHO | $25,000 |
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 (FY21–25, $22k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 37% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.
92 repeat relationships: 71 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $198k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NFNATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION5× · 2021–2025 · $475k · revenue +291%
- RURush University Medical Center4× · 2022–2025 · $403k · revenue +6%
- MSMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC5× · 2021–2025 · $393k · revenue +36%
Funded once
- EIErikson Instituteone grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue -9%
- RFROSALIND FRANKLIN UNIVERSITYone grant, 2024 · $25k
- NCNATURE CONSERVANCY - IDAHO (STALKER CREEK PLEDGE)one grant, 2023 · $25k
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.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
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.
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.
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.
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…
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 museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."
To spark curiosity and creativity in all young children through positive, play-based learning experiences.
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.
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…
How this is measured
101 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. 101 of the 157 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 NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Rush University Medical Center ↗
- Who funds MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds SUN VALLEY SUMMER SYMPHONY INC ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER OF NORTH & NORTHWEST COOK COUNTY ↗
- Who funds NORTH SHORE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds BOULDER COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ST LUKE'S WOOD RIVER FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds INSTITUTE FOR SHIPBOARD EDUCATION ↗
- Who funds WOOD RIVER LAND TRUST CO ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds BLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO COMMUNITY SCULLING INC ↗
- Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds HARRY CHAPIN FOOD BANK OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA INC ↗
- Who funds ARTIS-NAPLES INC ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY FOOD SHARE INC ↗
- Who funds MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY ↗
- Who funds WONDERBOUND ↗
- Who funds Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation ↗
- Who funds GRANT PARK ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Atlantic Salmon Federation (US) Inc ↗
- Who funds THE NAPLES PLAYERS INC ↗
- Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
- Who funds Erikson Institute ↗
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: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Motorola Solutions Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · AbbVie Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Sirius Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sirius Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
- Marine Biological Laboratory: 20% of income from government
- University of Miami: 5% of income from government
- Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation: 4% of income from government
- Naples Botanical Garden Inc: 3% of income from government
- Christ Child Society of Naples Inc: 3% of income from government
- Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Sirius Fund?
Find your warmest path to Sirius Fund 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 Sirius’ filings →