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Illinois · Private foundation

The Canning Foundation

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.

$7.0M
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
49
Grants FY2025
64
Organizations funded FY2024
20%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$25,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$1,739,569
Organizations funded a year
64 to 103
FY2020 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
7
Total assets, FY2025
$25M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 20% of the organizations The Canning Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 5% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $253k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationAnimalsArts & CultureHealthInternationalOther
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 yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving46$7.0M33%
FY202464$5.6M20%
FY202382$7.2M24%
FY202281$7.2M23%
FY202188$3.6M34%
FY2020103$5.7Mn/a
99% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$12MPhilanthropy$11MHealth$3.8MArts & Culture$2.6MYouth Development$2.1MAnimals$1.9MHousing & Shelter$1.4MRecreation & Sports$1.1MOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
WY
IN
OH
NJ
CA
UT
NE
MO
VA
MD
NC
DC
MS
TX
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Big Shoulders Fund$7,467,64464%
Wings Program Inc$1,320,10047%
Northwestern University$975,00040%
Field Museum of Natural History$720,00051%
Northwest Community Hospital Foundation$695,16459%
Duke University$611,30740%
Paws Chicago$557,31161%
Depaul University$539,68350%
William Rainey Harper College Educational Foundation$501,84066%
De Lasalle Institute$500,0005n/a
Show all 147 grantees
All grantees of The Canning Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Big Shoulders Fund$7,467,64464%
Wings Program Inc$1,320,10047%
Northwestern University$975,00040%
Field Museum of Natural History$720,00051%
Northwest Community Hospital Foundation$695,16459%
Duke University$611,30740%
Paws Chicago$557,31161%
Depaul University$539,68350%
William Rainey Harper College Educational Foundation$501,84066%
De Lasalle Institute$500,0005n/a
Chicago Baseball and Educational Academy Inc$404,529455%
African Wildlife Foundation Inc$400,00021%
Better Government Association Inc$400,00044%
Youth Services of Glenviewnorthbrook$384,40834%
Chicago Zoological Society$372,50030%
Leo High School$361,0005n/a
Ucan$341,27140%
Accelerate Institute$325,00146%
Smithsonian Institution$323,45730%
Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation Inc$300,00050%
Denison University$291,50030%
Chicago Community Foundation$275,0004n/a
Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago$250,00041%
Our Lady of Tepeyac High School$211,0006n/a
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc$205,00030%
Illinois Policy Institute$202,17821%
Chicago Shakespeare Theater$200,00012%
Empower Illinois$200,00020%
Let It Be US$189,001514%
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Foundation Inc$150,00031%
Merit School of Music$150,00011%
The Chicago Academy of Sciences$150,00060%
Chicago Public Media Inc$150,00020%
Window to the World Communications Inc$125,00050%
Lutheran Church Charities Fund$125,00051%
Urban Gateways$125,00052%
Brain Research Foundation$110,00051%
Caseys Safe Haven Holistic Rescue & Sanctuary$100,172128%
The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research$100,00010%
The Night Ministry$100,00011%
Des Plaines Friends of the Park$100,000138%
Catholic Church Extension Society of US of Amer$100,0005n/a
St Francis de Sales High School$92,0005n/a
Bravehearts Therapeutic Riding and Educational Center$85,00061%
Perspectives Charter Schools$83,33350%
Interaction Inc$83,00014%
After School Matters Inc$75,00040%
Clearbrook$75,00030%
Navy Seal Foundation Inc$75,00030%
Famous Fido Rescue and Adoption All$75,00051%
Wirepoints Corp$75,00039%
Skills for Chicago$75,00030%
Shedd Aquarium Society$75,00010%
Enchanted Backpack$75,00031%
Chicago Horticultural Society$75,00050%
Warrior Dog Foundation$70,00042%
Change Illinois$60,00034%
Lincoln Park Zoological Society$60,00030%
The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago$60,00030%
Altus Academy$60,00028%
Chicago Fire Department Foundation$50,00054%
The Barack Obama Foundation$50,00010%
Chicago Blackhawks Foundation$50,00021%
Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers$50,00021%
The Chicago Scholars Foundation$48,50041%
Navy Pier Inc$44,00040%
Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry$43,30620%
Facing History & Ourselves Inc$40,00040%
Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago$40,00010%
Music Institute of Chicago$40,00040%
Shelter Inc$35,00010%
Second City Canine Rescue$34,73733%
Foundation for Student Communicationinc$33,00042%
Jackson Metro Sponsoring Committee-Worki D/B/A Working Together Jackson$30,00027%
Chicago Historical Society$30,00050%
Marillac St Vincent Family Services Inc$30,00010%
Erikson Institute$30,00020%
Metropolitan Planning Council$30,00030%
K9s for Veterans Nfp$30,00023%
Exceptional Equestrians Unlimited Inc$30,00029%
Chicago Humanities Festival$27,00050%
Legacy Connections$25,00011%
Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois Inc$25,00010%
Christopher P Gardner Foundati$25,00014%
Special Olympics Illinois$25,00050%
Rush University Medical Center$25,00010%
Holy Family Catholic Community$25,0001n/a
Equine Guardians$25,0001n/a
City Colleges of Chicago Foundation$25,00010%
Kids First Chicago for Education$25,00020%
The Brookings Institution$25,00010%
Urological Research Foundation$25,00017%
The Civic Federation$25,00050%
Settlers Pond Inc$25,0001n/a
Gateway for Cancer Research$21,00030%
BIG Academy$20,00029%
Ryan Banks Academy$20,00022%
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs$20,00020%
A Better Chicago$20,00040%
Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation$20,00020%
Ingenuity Incorporated Chicago$20,00040%
Advance Illinois Nfp$20,00040%
Dog Is My Copilot$20,00021%
Junior Achievement of Chicago$15,00020%
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation$12,50010%
Blood Cancer United Inc$10,00010%
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce$10,00010%
St Symphorosa School$10,0001n/a
The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired$10,00010%
Food Access Project$10,00011%
Allies for Community Business Inc$10,00010%
The Cara Program$10,00010%
Vested Interest in K9s Inc$10,00010%
St Joseph High School$10,0001n/a
St Rita of Cascia High School Corporation$10,0001n/a
Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris Inc$10,00010%
Greater Chicago Food Depository$10,00010%
Reading Power Inc$10,00011%
Educators for Excellence Inc$10,00010%
For the Love of Cats Inc$10,00013%
Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching$10,0001n/a
Marian Catholic$7,5002n/a
Jack Martin Fund Inc$6,60011%
Special Children's Charities$5,50020%
The Harbour Inc$5,00010%
Pathway to Adventure Council Inc Boy Scouts of America$5,00010%
August Mission$5,0001n/a
Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation$5,00013%
On Angels Wings$5,0001n/a
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc$5,00010%
Rotary Club of Schaumburg Hoffman Estates Charitable Foundation Inc$5,00012%
McDermott Center$5,00010%
Bridgeport Catholic Academy$5,0001n/a
Children's Advocacy Center of North & Northwest Cook County$5,00010%
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces$5,00010%
Great Lakes and St Lawrence Cities Initiative$5,00010%
Thaakat Foundation$4,00030%
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation$3,00011%
Wisconsin Humane Society$2,5001n/a
Scituate Library Foundation Inc$2,00021%
The 100 Club of Illinois$2,00020%
Operation North Pole Inc$1,00010%
Parkinson's Foundation Inc$1,00010%
Father Flanagan's Boys' Home$1,00010%
American Lung Association$1,00010%
CaringBridge$1,00010%
Cradles to Crayons Inc$50010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 53 recipients with no EIN on record ($12M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

The Canning Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 129 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $7,467,644 over 6y, 4.1% of budgetWings Program Inc: $1,320,100 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $975,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetField Museum of Natural History: $720,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetNorthwest Community Hospital Foundation: $695,164 over 5y, 9.2% of budgetDuke University: $611,307 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPaws Chicago: $557,311 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetDepaul University: $539,683 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWilliam Rainey Harper College Educational Foundation: $501,840 over 6y, 6.1% of budgetChicago Baseball and Educational Academy Inc: $404,529 over 4y, 55% of budgetAfrican Wildlife Foundation Inc: $400,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetBetter Government Association Inc: $400,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetYouth Services of Glenviewnorthbrook: $384,408 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetChicago Zoological Society: $372,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUcan: $341,271 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetAccelerate Institute: $325,001 over 4y, 6.0% of budgetSmithsonian Institution: $323,457 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMarine Corps Scholarship Foundation Inc: $300,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetDenison University: $291,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAccess Living of Metropolitan Chicago: $250,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetUnited Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc: $205,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetIllinois Policy Institute: $202,178 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetChicago Shakespeare Theater: $200,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetEmpower Illinois: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLet It Be US: $189,001 over 5y, 14% of budgetUniversity of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Foundation Inc: $150,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetMerit School of Music: $150,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetThe Chicago Academy of Sciences: $150,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetChicago Public Media Inc: $150,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWindow to the World Communications Inc: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetLutheran Church Charities Fund: $125,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetUrban Gateways: $125,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetBrain Research Foundation: $110,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetCaseys Safe Haven Holistic Rescue & Sanctuary: $100,172 over 1y, 28% of budgetThe Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Night Ministry: $100,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetDes Plaines Friends of the Park: $100,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetBravehearts Therapeutic Riding and Educational Center: $85,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetPerspectives Charter Schools: $83,333 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetInteraction Inc: $83,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetAfter School Matters Inc: $75,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetClearbrook: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNavy Seal Foundation Inc: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFamous Fido Rescue and Adoption All: $75,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetWirepoints Corp: $75,000 over 3y, 8.5% of budgetSkills for Chicago: $75,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetShedd Aquarium Society: $75,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEnchanted Backpack: $75,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budget

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 129.

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.

Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan FoundationIL44.8× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · Lavin Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Motorola Solutions 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 The Canning Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Canning Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Canning 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 The Canning Foundation

How much does The Canning Foundation give?
The Canning Foundation reported 49 grants totaling $6,980,580 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 64 and 103 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
What does The Canning Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (31%), Philanthropy (29%), Health (10%).
Who are The Canning Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Big Shoulders Fund ($7.5M), Wings Program Inc ($1.3M), Northwestern University ($975k).
Does The Canning Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 20% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Canning 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 The Canning Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation, Robert R McCormick Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust.
Where is The Canning Foundation based?
The Canning Foundation is based in IL.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 204 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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More from the funding graph