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· Private foundation

Tellabs Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$2.6M
Granted FY2020
44
Grants FY2020
8
States reached
$750k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

85% of Tellabs Foundation’s FY2021 grant dollars went to The Dupage Community Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2021 names 21 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Tellabs Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 30 organizations, $3M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

22
’17
48
’18
30
’19
30
’20
21
’21

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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 FY2017–2021.

Philanthropy$3.7MHealth$3.1MArts & Culture$1.1MEducation$1.0MHuman Services$738kHousing & Shelter$696kScience & Tech$510kReligion$187kOther$0
02FY2020 · 44 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2020

  • Under $10k17 grants · $72k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $248k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $500k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.8M
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PROJECT ALS$750,000
LITTLE FRIENDS$500,000
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION$500,000
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER$100,000
DUPAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$100,000
EDWARD FOUNDATION$100,000
UNITED WAYCHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST$100,000
MIDWEST HEALTH FOUNDATION$100,000
NEW HOPE MISSIONS$30,000
GARDEN CENTER SERVICES$25,000
GIVING DUPAGE$20,000
PLAYSMART LITERACY INC$20,000
GLOBAL ORG FOR HEALTH EDUCATION$12,000
CARES VA$11,000
TUNNELS TO TOWERS$10,000
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, $641k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 5% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%REALIZE IMPACT: $4k → 10%KING-BRUWAERT HOUSE: $10k → 7%KING-BRUWAERT HOUSE: $10k → 7%PUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER DBA HESED HOUSE: $10k → 8%PUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER DBA HESED HOUSE: $10k → 8%PUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER DBA HESED HOUSE: $5k → 8%ASSOCIATION FOR INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT: $5k → 8%RIDEJANIERIDE FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%RIDEJANIERIDE FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%RIDEJANIERIDE FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%RIDEJANIERIDE FOUNDATION: $5k → 7%RIDE JANIE RIDE FOUNDATION: $2k → 7%LITTLE FRIENDS: $500k → 7%LITTLE FRIENDS: $10k → 7%LITTLE FRIENDS: $10k → 7%LOAVES AND FISHES: $10k → 7%COMMUNITY ACCESS NAPERVILLE: $5k → 7%WOMEN'S CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND: $10k → 14%WOMEN'S CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND: $10k → 14%WOMEN'S CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND: $5k → 14%WOMEN'S CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND: $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

WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IA
OH
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
VA
NC
GA
TX
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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$5.6M · 43 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

43 repeat relationships — 28 still active in FY2020, 15 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

43
44

Total granted

$5.6M
$785k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+57%

Still filing today

72%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $330k 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
HealthEducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureAnimalsPhilanthropyOther

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

  • AD
    ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC
    2× · 2017–2019 · $1.0M · revenue +40%
  • BC
    BRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC
    3× · 2017–2020 · $623k · revenue +143%
  • NH
    NAPERVILLE HERITAGE SOCIETY
    5× · 2017–2021 · $530k · revenue +26% · 31% of their budget

Funded once

  • AURORA UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $500k · revenue +44%
  • IM
    ILLINOIS MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE AC
    one grant, 2017 · $30k
  • MM
    MOTHER MCAULEY HIGH SCHOOL
    one grant, 2018 · $20k

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
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
2
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
3
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.

—
4
Saint Xavier University

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…

Education
5
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
6
Concordia University Chicago

Steadfast in jesus christ as revealed in the holy scriptures, concordia university chicago promotes academic rigor in its liberal arts and professional programs; grounds students in objective truth, integrity, and excellence; and practices…

Education
7
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
8
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
9
Arbor Research Collaborative for Health

Arbor research collaborative for health is committed to improving patient care through research that shapes medical policies and practice. in particular, arbor research conducts health outcomes research on chronic disease and end-stage…

Health
10
Edward Hospital

Edward Hospital follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
11
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
12
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Little Friends Inc and the most unlike its peers is Life Builders. 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 34 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number18%0%<5yr13%0%5–10yr18%30%10–20yr15%20%20–35yr14%19%35–55yr22%30%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value18%0%<5yr13%0%5–10yr18%6%10–20yr15%43%20–35yr14%28%35–55yr22%23%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%0/83
the rest of the field
12%
8,891/72,276

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

75 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. 75 of the 115 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)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
72/75
Grantees still filing
58/75
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE DUPAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $3,547,086 · PhilanthropyTHE DUPAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+4 more — $167,500 · PhilanthropyALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC — $1,000,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & REL…PROJECT ALS INC — $750,000 · HealthPROJECT ALS INCAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION — $506,000 · HealthAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR S…VICTORY RANCH — $102,000 · HealthLOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER — $100,000 · Health+13 more — $115,000 · HealthNAPERVILLE HERITAGE SOCIETY — $530,000 · Arts & CultureNAPERVILLE HERI…DUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $520,000 · Arts & CultureDUPAGE CHILDREN…Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $510,000 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griff…+1 more — $10,000 · Arts & CultureNAMI DUPAGE — $150,000 · OtherNAMI DUPAGEMARCH4MEG — $120,000 · OtherMARCH4MEGEdward Foundation — $110,000 · OtherEdward Foundati…GARDEN CENTER SERVICES — $107,000 · OtherGARDEN CENTER S…UNITED WAYCHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST — $100,000 · OtherUNITED WAYCHICA…LINCOLN ACADEMY — $90,000 · OtherLINCOLN ACADEMYPEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER — $52,000 · OtherNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK — $100,000 · OtherNORTHERN ILLINO…+56 more — $729,000 · Other+56 moreAURORA UNIVERSITY — $500,000 · EducationPLAY SMART LITERACY — $105,000 · EducationBenedictine University — $50,000 · Education+11 more — $123,000 · EducationLITTLE FRIENDS INC — $520,000 · Human ServicesWOMENS CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND INC — $30,000 · Human ServicesPUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER INC D/B/A HESED HOUSE — $25,000 · Human ServicesRide Janie Ride Foundation — $22,000 · Human Services+5 more — $43,500 · Human ServicesBRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC — $623,000 · Housing & Shelter
Philanthropy$3,714,586Health$2,573,000Arts & Culture$1,570,000Other$1,558,000Education$778,000Human Services$640,500Housing & Shelter$623,000

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 budgetTHE DUPAGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $3,547,086 over 2y, 24% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC — $1,000,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT ALS INC — $750,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetBRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC — $623,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetNAPERVILLE HERITAGE SOCIETY — $530,000 over 5y, 31% of budgetDUPAGE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — $520,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetLITTLE FRIENDS INC — $520,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $510,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION — $506,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetAURORA UNIVERSITY — $500,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEdward Foundation — $110,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetGARDEN CENTER SERVICES — $107,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetPLAY SMART LITERACY — $105,000 over 5y, 29% of budgetVICTORY RANCH — $102,000 over 2y, 80% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMIDWEST HEALTH FOUNDATION — $100,000 over 1y, 9.7% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER — $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER — $52,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGIVING DUPAGE — $50,000 over 2y, 62% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE LAND OF LINCOLN INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBenedictine University — $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLIFE BUILDERS — $50,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetSt Leonard's Ministries — $38,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetWOMENS CENTER OF GREATER CHICAGOLAND INC — $30,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetGOOD SHEPHERD MANOR INC — $28,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPUBLIC ACTION TO DELIVER SHELTER INC D/B/A HESED HOUSE — $25,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWellness House — $25,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetRide Janie Ride Foundation — $22,000 over 5y, 10.0% of budgetKING-BRUWAERT HOUSE — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY — $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE GENEVA FOUNDATION — $15,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMarquette University — $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES FOR CHILDREN — $15,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATION — $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGENESIS AT THE CROSSROADS INC — $15,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKENYON COLLEGE — $13,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPARK LAWN SCHOOL AND ACTIVITY CENTER IN C — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT HOOD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HERREN PROJECT — $10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetLIVING ALTERNATIVES PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER — $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBROKEN NO MORE — $10,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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…The Dupage Community …Arthur J Gallagher Fo…Lloyd a Fry FoundationAbbVie FoundationThe Coleman Foundatio…Community Foundation …United Way of Metropo…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Walter S & Lucien…Dunham FundNaperville Rotary Cha…
The Chicago Community TrustIL28.1× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · The Dupage Community Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Coleman Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Walter S & Lucienne B Driskill Foundation · Dunham Fund · Naperville Rotary Charities Inc

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 Tellabs 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 · 00%5%19%42%75%your share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Emerson College — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
21report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 Tellabs Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Tellabs 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 115 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 2020, released 2020. 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