Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Stephen N and Ann S Potter Family 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.

$144k
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$55k
Largest
01What you fund
0196% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202024.

Education$192kPublic Benefit$125kArts & Culture$101kPhilanthropy$60kSocial Science$60kEnvironment$31kHealth$30kInternational$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $24k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $55k
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$3.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DUKE UNIVERSITY$55,000
KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT$35,000
KENILWORTH COMMUNITY FUND$10,000
AMERICAN SCHOOL IN LONDON FOUNDATION$10,000
IL CHAPTER OF THE NATURE CONSERVANCY$10,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
JAPAN AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CHICAGO$5,000
SOLTI FOUNDATION US$5,000
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$4,500
GREENLIGHT FUND$2,000
CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS$1,000
LINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY$1,000
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 (FY20–20, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES: $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
NJ
CA
MO
VA
NC
SC

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.

54%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$366k · 13 repeat orgs$312k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships — 7 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
17

Total granted

$366k
$257k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+3%
+85%

Still filing today

69%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $56k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementOther

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

  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $120k · revenue +27%
  • AS
    American School in London Foundation
    4× · 2021–2024 · $28k · revenue +13%
  • LO
    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    2× · 2020–2021 · $20k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • TV
    THE VILLAGE OF KENILWORTH
    one grant, 2020 · $115k
  • TK
    THE KENILWORTH CLUB
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • RU
    Rush University Medical Centergraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $30k · revenue +30%

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
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
2
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
3
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
4
University of Illinois Foundation

The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is an independent and separate nonprofit entity from the University of Illinois. Our mission is to encourage and administer private gifts and serve the UI System by working closely with…

Education
5
The Chicago Bar Foundation

The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.

Education
6
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
7
Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…

Arts & Culture
8
Chicago Theatre Group Inc

The chicago theatre group is committed to producing both classic and contemporary works giving full voice to a wide range of artists and visions. by dedicating itself to three guiding principles - quality, equity, and community - the…

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
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
11
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.

12
The Executives' Club of Chicago

To be chicagos premier resources for connecting, developing, and growing best-in-class leaders to provide established and emerging leaders opportunities to develop and nurture meaningful relationships, participate in innovative…

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Chicago Council On Global Affairs and the most unlike its peers is The Solti Foundation Us Co Fiona Queen. 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 51 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr13%4%5–10yr18%13%10–20yr15%13%20–35yr14%22%35–55yr22%48%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr13%1%5–10yr18%5%10–20yr15%5%20–35yr14%2%35–55yr22%88%55yr+

The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/24
the rest of the field
12%
8,891/72,335

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

24 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 36 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
16/24
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE VILLAGE OF KENILWORTH — $115,000 · OtherTHE VILLAGE OF KENILWORTHRAND CORPORATION — $60,000 · OtherRAND CORPORATIONTHE KENILWORTH CLUB — $50,000 · OtherTHE KENILWORTH CLUBKELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT — $35,000 · OtherKELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENTNATURE CONSERVANCY IN ILLINOIS — $20,000 · OtherNATURE CONSERVANCY IN ILLINOIS+15 more — $78,000 · Other+15 moreDUKE UNIVERSITY — $120,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITYINSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT NEWS — $5,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $5,000 · Education+1 more — $2,000 · EducationKENILWORTH COMMUNITY FUND INC — $60,000 · PhilanthropyKENILWORTH …THE SOLTI FOUNDATION US CO Fiona Queen — $10,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SOLTI F…American School in London Foundation — $27,500 · InternationalJAPAN AMERICA SOCIETY OF CHICAGO INC — $22,500 · InternationalTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS — $2,000 · InternationalLyric Opera of Chicago — $20,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Symphony Orchestra — $4,500 · Arts & CultureINVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS & EDITORS INC — $2,500 · Arts & CultureThe Record Community News Group — $2,500 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $1,000 · Arts & CultureRush University Medical Center — $30,000 · HealthRepresentUs Education Fund — $10,000 · Public Benefit
Other$358,000Education$132,000Philanthropy$70,000International$52,000Arts & Culture$30,500Health$30,000Public Benefit$10,000

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 budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY — $120,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKENILWORTH COMMUNITY FUND INC — $60,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetRush University Medical Center — $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican School in London Foundation — $27,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJAPAN AMERICA SOCIETY OF CHICAGO INC — $22,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRepresentUs Education Fund — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO CLUB — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SOLTI FOUNDATION US CO Fiona Queen — $10,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR NONPROFIT NEWS — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GARDEN OF THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMetropolitan Family Services — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra — $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREENLIGHT FUND INC — $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS & EDITORS INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Record Community News Group — $2,500 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetGLEN VIEW CLUB SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION — $2,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLINCOLN PARK CONSERVANCY — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOLDEN APPLE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING — $1,000 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.

The Chicago Community TrustIL15× affinity6 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Stephen N and Ann S Potter Family 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
202122232425
no gov · 30%1%4%8%15%your share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
typical government reliance, FY2025

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.

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 36 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph