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· Public charity

Skender Foundation

The mission of SKENDER FOUNDATION is to empower and inspire mindful individuals and groups to achieve lifelong successes in education and wellness and to perpetuate the legacy of giving through gifts, time and talent to those in need.

$1.2M
Granted FY2021
6
Grants FY2021
2
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2021.

Philanthropy$1.3MHealth$618kHuman Services$212kEducation$202kYouth Development$131kArts & Culture$120kCommunity Improvement$100kHousing & Shelter$66kOther$0
02FY2021 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k2 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $55k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.2M
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SKENDER LEGACY DONOR ADVISED FUND$1,150,385
MOBILE CARE FOUNDATION$30,000
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY$15,000
RCCS CANCER SOCIETY$10,000
OPEN HEART MAGIC$7,500
FRIENDS OF PRENTICE$6,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–21, $269k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HAZLETON INTEGRATION PROJECT: $7k → 15%LITTLE WISH FOUNDATION INC: $6k → 16%AMERICAN CANCER RED CROSS: $8k → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $6k → 14%OPEN HEART MAGIC: $8k → 14%OPEN HEART MAGIC: $7k → 14%PARTNERS FOR PROGRESS NFP: $5k → 8%OPEN HEART MAGIC: $5k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $61k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $46k → 14%MISERICORDIA: $15k → 14%CONCORDIA PLACE: $5k → 14%URBAN INITIATIVES: $10k → 14%URBAN INITIATIVES: $5k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING & HEALING: $6k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING & HEALING: $5k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING & HEALING: $5k → 14%OPEN HEART MAGIC: $10k → 14%OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: $25k → 14%WELL RESOURCE CENTER NFP: $20k → 14%WELL RESOURCE CENTER NFP: $5k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
NY
MA
IN
PA
NJ
CA
NC
DC
GA
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

44%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.3M · 37 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +46% since the first grant, against +24% for the ones you funded once.

37 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2021, 34 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
46

Total granted

$1.3M
$485k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+24%

Still filing today

86%
89%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 2% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21
HealthHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • FO
    FRIENDS OF PRENTICE
    5× · 2017–2021 · $126k · revenue +19%
  • MH
    MISERICORDIA HOME
    3× · 2017–2019 · $122k · revenue +76%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Inc
    3× · 2017–2019 · $98k · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • VV
    Vocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leadersgraduated
    2× · 2018–2019 · $50k · revenue +295%
  • PA
    Purple Asparagus
    2× · 2018–2019 · $42k · revenue -86% · 29% of their budget
  • SC
    SNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $37k · revenue +32%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
2
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
3
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
4
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
5
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
6
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
7
Lurie Children's Surgical Foundation Inc

Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.

—
8
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
9
Pediatric Faculty Foundation Inc

We value excellence and innovation in clinical and basic research, coordinated and comprehensive patient care, ongoing physician education, and evidence-based child advocacy. our goal is to provide leadership in endeavors that promote the…

Health
10
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
11
The Chicago Scholars Foundation

Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.

Education
12
Junior Achievement of Chicago

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

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc and the most unlike its peers is Wood Family Foundation Trust William. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 18. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number20%4%<5yr14%4%5–10yr18%19%10–20yr17%32%20–35yr15%22%35–55yr16%20%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value20%3%<5yr14%1%5–10yr18%18%10–20yr17%35%20–35yr15%16%35–55yr16%27%55yr+

The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 3% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/86
the rest of the field
14%
7,547/52,814

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

82 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 82 of the 87 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
24
Early backer (in before they grew)
76/82
Grantees still filing
58/82
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SKENDER LEGACY DONOR ADVISED FUND — $1,150,385 · OtherSKENDER LEGACY DONOR ADVISED FUNDFRIENDS OF PRENTICE — $126,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF PRENTICECBRE FOUNDATION INC — $85,000 · Other+31 more — $501,925 · Other+31 moreAmerican Heart Association Inc — $97,500 · HealthAmerican Hea…ESPERANZA HEALTH CENTERS — $50,000 · HealthESPERANZA HE…Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — $49,240 · HealthAnn & Robert…CITY OF HOPE NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER — $40,000 · HealthCITY OF HOPE…MOBILE CARE FOUNDATION — $30,000 · HealthMOBILE CARE …A SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION — $15,000 · Health+5 more — $40,245 · Health+5 moreMISERICORDIA HOME — $122,000 · Human ServicesMISERICORD…OPEN HEART MAGIC — $29,250 · Human ServicesOPEN HEART…OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS INCORPORATED — $25,000 · Human ServicesOPPORTUNIT…The Well Resource Center NFP — $25,000 · Human ServicesThe Well R…REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING — $16,000 · Human ServicesREVIVE CEN…URBAN INITIATIVES INC — $15,000 · Human ServicesURBAN INIT…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $14,000 · Human Services+4 more — $22,900 · Human Services+4 moreBOX IT FOUNDATION — $48,000 · PhilanthropyWOOD FAMILY FOUNDATION TRUST WILLIAM — $42,500 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC — $30,000 · PhilanthropyPATRIOT EDUCATION FUND — $11,400 · PhilanthropyTHE JOHN BUCK COMPANY FOUNDATION — $11,000 · PhilanthropyROFEH CHOLIM CANCER SOCIETY INC — $10,000 · Philanthropy+3 more — $15,000 · PhilanthropyDEPAUL UNIVERSITY — $50,000 · EducationHFS CHICAGO SCHOLARS — $25,000 · EducationPERSPECTIVES CHARTER SCHOOLS — $20,000 · EducationCHILDREN AT THE CROSSROADS FOUNDATION — $11,000 · EducationCHICAGO WALDORF SCHOOL — $7,500 · EducationACE MENTOR PROGRAM OF ILLINOIS INC — $5,000 · EducationIllinois Institute of Technology — $5,000 · EducationFRANKIE LEMMON FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 · Education826CHI INC — $5,000 · EducationDOMINICAN UNIVERSITY — $5,000 · EducationTHE BRIDGE TEEN CENTER NFP — $55,000 · Youth DevelopmentVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders — $50,000 · Youth DevelopmentGRIP OUTREACH FOR YOUTH — $16,400 · Youth DevelopmentGIRL SCOUTS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS — $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentHUGH O'BRIAN YOUTH LEADERSHIP — $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentGARY COMER YOUTH CENTER INC — $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentSNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATION — $37,000 · Arts & CultureYOUNG CHICAGO AUTHORS — $10,500 · Arts & CultureOPERA-MATIC NFP — $10,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC WILL INC — $10,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $10,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATIONINC — $5,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,863,310Health$321,985Human Services$269,150Philanthropy$167,900Education$138,500Youth Development$136,400Arts & Culture$82,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetFRIENDS OF PRENTICE — $126,000 over 5y, 7.0% of budgetMISERICORDIA HOME — $122,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $97,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCBRE FOUNDATION INC — $85,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetTHE BRIDGE TEEN CENTER NFP — $55,000 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY — $50,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders — $50,000 over 2y, 5.6% of budgetESPERANZA HEALTH CENTERS — $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — $49,240 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOX IT FOUNDATION — $48,000 over 3y, 9.0% of budgetWOOD FAMILY FOUNDATION TRUST WILLIAM — $42,500 over 2y, 25% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR ENRICHED LIVING INC — $42,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetPurple Asparagus — $42,000 over 2y, 29% of budgetCITY OF HOPE NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER — $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATION — $37,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetThe Cara Program — $33,875 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetOVER THE RAINBOW ASSOCIATION — $32,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetDESIGN INDUSTRIES FOUNDATION FIGHTING AIDS/CHICAGO INC — $30,500 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetMOBILE CARE FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC — $30,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO GATEWAY GREEN COMMITTEE — $30,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetOPEN HEART MAGIC — $29,250 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetHFS CHICAGO SCHOLARS — $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetOPPORTUNITY KNOCKS INCORPORATED — $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetThe Well Resource Center NFP — $25,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $23,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPERSPECTIVES CHARTER SCHOOLS — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAIA CHICAGO — $17,250 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetREVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING — $16,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetURBAN INITIATIVES INC — $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSARAH'S CIRCLE — $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATION INC — $15,000 over 2y, 35% of budgetA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $14,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGIVE ME A CHANCE FOUNDATION — $12,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetPATRIOT EDUCATION FUND — $11,400 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetCHILDREN AT THE CROSSROADS FOUNDATION — $11,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHE JOHN BUCK COMPANY FOUNDATION — $11,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetEdward Foundation — $10,800 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYOUNG CHICAGO AUTHORS — $10,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPERA-MATIC NFP — $10,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetBOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetROFEH CHOLIM CANCER SOCIETY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSIC WILL INC — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

United Way of Metropo…The Chicago Community…Circle of Service Fou…Executive Constructio…Leopardo Charitable F…Arie and Ida Crown Me…Robert R McCormick Fo…The Witz Family Found…Imc Chicago Charitabl…Helen V Brach Foundat…Polk Bros Foundation …Turner Construction C…
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago IncIL31.7× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Executive Construction Foundation · Leopardo Charitable Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Witz Family Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Helen V Brach Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Turner Construction Company Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Skender Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Skender Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Skender 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 87 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines