Does Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

Which funders back the same organizations as Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Arizona Community Foundation, Jackson Family Foundation, Barrington Area Comm Foundation Inc.

Foundation Dossiers

Illinois · Private foundation

Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life 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.

$1.9M
Granted FY2024(still arriving): 26
Grants FY2024: 30
Organizations funded FY2023: 40%
First-time grantees FY2023

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2024: $20,000
Largest grant, FY2024: $1,000,000
Organizations funded a year: 17 to 41; FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024: 12
Total assets, FY2024: $-1
Applications: Preselected organizations only; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 40% of the organizations Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 12% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $327k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationPhilanthropyHealthSocial ScienceOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2024still arriving	25	$1.6M	32%
FY2023	30	$2.8M	40%
FY2022	17	$3.4M	24%
FY2021	34	$1.3M	59%
FY2020	30	$1.1M	43%
FY2019	41	$1.1M	46%
FY2018	28	$1.2M	64%
FY2017	23	$778k	n/a

92% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$4.4MHealth$2.6MEducation$2.5MPhilanthropy$1.9MHuman Services$1.0MFood & Nutrition$336kCrime & Legal$250kYouth Development$222kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
The Phoenix Theatre Company and Subsidiary	$3,025,000	4	8%
Wabash College	$2,127,500	8	2%
Childhelp Inc	$725,280	7	1%
Gateway for Cancer Research	$634,100	4	5%
The David Foster Foundation	$524,757	4	27%
Assistance in Healthcare Inc	$514,627	8	18%
American Heart Association Inc	$375,593	7	0%
Navy Seal Foundation Inc	$300,000	5	0%
Atlantic Legal Foundation	$200,000	3	20%
Sheridan Historical Society INC	$175,000	3	22%

Show all 59 grantees

All grantees of Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
The Phoenix Theatre Company and Subsidiary	$3,025,000	4	8%
Wabash College	$2,127,500	8	2%
Childhelp Inc	$725,280	7	1%
Gateway for Cancer Research	$634,100	4	5%
The David Foster Foundation	$524,757	4	27%
Assistance in Healthcare Inc	$514,627	8	18%
American Heart Association Inc	$375,593	7	0%
Navy Seal Foundation Inc	$300,000	5	0%
Atlantic Legal Foundation	$200,000	3	20%
Sheridan Historical Society INC	$175,000	3	22%
College of Lake County Foundation	$175,000	3	10%
The Preservation Society of Newport County	$150,000	1	1%
Trends Charitable Fund	$147,500	4	62%
Arizona Research Institute of Acupuncture& Chinese	$105,343	2	61%
Acton Academy DC Foundation	$100,000	4	11%
Grant Hamill Foundation Inc	$100,000	1	56%
Barrington History Museum	$75,000	4	49%
Foundation for Economic Education Inc	$70,000	3	0%
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty	$60,000	4	0%
The Atlas Society Ltd	$55,000	4	1%
Carriage Museum of America Inc	$50,000	1	87%
DePauw University	$50,000	2	0%
City Help Inc of Phoenix	$45,000	1	1%
Child Protective Services Community Partners Inc	$35,000	1	1%
Trinity Christian College Association	$32,000	5	0%
Barrington Area Council on Aging Inc	$29,000	2	3%
Circle the City	$25,000	1	0%
Johns Hopkins University	$25,000	1	0%
Arizona Women's Board	$25,000	1	n/a
University of Illinois Foundation	$25,000	2	0%
Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy Research	$25,000	3	0%
Junior Achievement of Chicago	$20,000	2	0%
Ludwig Von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics Inc	$20,000	2	0%
Golden Age Ranch Inc	$16,500	1	n/a
Leelanau Conservancy	$15,000	3	0%
Fighter Country Foundation Inc	$13,500	1	3%
Dream Center Foundation	$11,690	1	0%
Prevent Child Abuse America	$10,000	1	0%
Fox River Valley Pony Club	$10,000	1	16%
Teen Lifeline Inc	$10,000	1	1%
Barrington Area Conservation Trust Inc	$10,000	1	4%
Northwestern University	$10,000	1	0%
Aameer Sahi Foundation Inc	$10,000	1	7%
Leaders in Furthering Education Inc	$6,250	1	1%
Willow House	$5,000	1	n/a
Old Art Building	$5,000	1	n/a
Kid Net Foundation Jonathans Place	$2,500	1	0%
Mercatus Center Inc	$2,500	1	0%
Islands of Valor Initiative	$2,000	1	n/a
Animal House Shelter Inc	$1,500	1	0%
Leland Yacht Club Foundation	$1,000	1	n/a
The Aspen Country Day School Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Leelanau County Cancer Foundation	$1,000	1	2%
Carriage Association of America Inc	$1,000	1	0%
United States Association for UNHCR	$1,000	1	0%
Pathway to Adventure Council Inc Boy Scouts of America	$1,000	1	0%
Walk On	$1,000	1	0%
Barrington Youth Dance Ensemble Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Midwest Therapeutic Riding Program Inc	$1,000	1	1%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 58 recipients with no EIN on record ($3.1M), not named here.

Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 6 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 53 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 53.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Arizona Community FoundationAZ17.9× affinity8 shared granteesties to 9 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · Jackson Family Foundation · Barrington Area Comm Foundation Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust · Baxter International Foundation · Moreno Family Foundation · The Rob Walton Foundation · Foglia Family Foundation · The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation · The Albertsons Companies Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase 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.

Compare Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life 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.

About Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation

How much does Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation give?: Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation reported 26 grants totaling $1,878,475 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 17 and 41 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (29%), Health (17%), Education (17%).
Who are Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: The Phoenix Theatre Company and Subsidiary ($3.0M), Wabash College ($2.1M), Childhelp Inc ($725k).
Does Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2023, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Arizona Community Foundation, Jackson Family Foundation, Barrington Area Comm Foundation Inc.
Where is Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation based?: Stephenson Family Foundation A/K/A Celebrate Life Foundation is based in IL.