· Private foundation
The Brennan Family Charitable Trust
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k10 grants · $21k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $53k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MARIST HIGH SCHOOL | $29,613 |
| CARA PROGRAM | $23,700 |
| MARQUETTE LAW SCHOOL | $5,000 |
| ST ALEXANDER CHURCH | $4,209 |
| IRISH AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP | $3,750 |
| BELLARMINE JESUIT RETREAT HOUSE | $2,100 |
| PONDER WORKS | $2,045 |
| PATHLIGHTS | $1,010 |
| TOGETHER WE COPE | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,000 |
| MISCERICORIDA | $518 |
| NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION | $250 |
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 (FY17–25, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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 +40% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.
22 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down.
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, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TCThe Cara Program7× · 2017–2025 · $123k · revenue +116%
- TITHE IRISH AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP INC8× · 2017–2025 · $33k · revenue +140%
- BJBELLARMINE JESUIT RETREAT HOUSE INC8× · 2017–2025 · $14k · revenue +72%
Funded once
- SOSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECTgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +224%
- MMISERICODIAone grant, 2017 · $8k
- MAMIKE ALSTOTT FOUNDATIONone grant, 2024 · $2k
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.
Chicago Cares, Inc. mobilizes volunteers to build a stronger, more unified Chicago.
The aids foundation of chicago mobilizes communities to create equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to hiv and related chronic disease.
Chicago sun-times serves the public interest by strengthening the well-being of our local communities and our democracy through independent local journalism.
The foundation is set up to deliver one program - look good feel better. the mission of this nationwide program is to improve the quality of life of women, men, and teens undergoing cancer treatment by offering advice on how to cope with…
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.
At legal aid chicago, we work together to provide high quality civil legal aid to people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.through advocacy, education, collaboration, and litigation we empower individuals, protect fundamental…
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…
Improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer.
The organization is organized and will be operated exclusively for charitable, literary, scientific, and educational purposes within the meaning of code section 501(c)(3), including for such purposes, but not limited to, the promotion of…
The hospital is a catholic health care organization sponsored by the sisters of st. casimir. by our commitment to witness to the healing mission of jesus, we contribute to healthy communities and promote quality health care to all with…
Social current's mission as developed and approved by its board of directors is to advocate for and implement equitable solutions to society's toughest challenges through collaboration, innovation, policy, and practice excellence.
See schedule ocivic consulting alliance is driven by a vision is to be the cornerstone of a civic ecosystem that creates a more vibrant, equitable, and prosperous chicago region for all. civic consulting alliance makes progress toward that…
How this is measured
20 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. 20 of the 41 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 The Cara Program ↗
- Who funds THE IRISH AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP INC ↗
- Who funds BELLARMINE JESUIT RETREAT HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT ↗
- Who funds PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ↗
- Who funds TOGETHER WE COPE ↗
- Who funds PATHLIGHTS HUMAN SERVICES ↗
- Who funds MIKE ALSTOTT FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTHWEST CHICAGO HOMELESS SERVICES ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NETWORK FOR GOOD ↗
- Who funds Corazon A Corazon ↗
- Who funds THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS ↗
- Who funds Pat Mac's Pack Inc ↗
- Who funds NAMI Chicago ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION ↗
- Who funds ST BALDRICK'S FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds JENNIFER S FALLICK CANCER SUPPORT CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE MED13L FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds Special Children's Charities ↗
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: United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Motorola Solutions Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Brennan Family Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Brennan Family Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Brennan Family Charitable Trust?
Find your warmest path to The Brennan Family Charitable Trust 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.
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