· Private foundation
The Christopher Family Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k18 grants · $51k
- $10k–50k22 grants · $636k
- $50k–250k39 grants · $3.3M
- $250k+2 grants · $570k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $290,000 |
| FOREFRONT | $280,000 |
| WALTHER LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION INC | $219,636 |
| CHILDREN FIRST FUND | $200,000 |
| ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION | $160,000 |
| NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK | $150,000 |
| LUTHERAN MUSIC PROGRAM | $150,000 |
| BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO INC | $105,000 |
| CARA PROGRAM | $100,000 |
| GARFIELD PARK COMMUNITY COUNCIL | $100,000 |
| MEALS ON WHEELS OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY INC | $95,000 |
| ALLIES FOR COMMUNITY BUSINESS INC | $90,000 |
| FEEDING AMERICA | $90,000 |
| MRELIEF | $85,000 |
| A BETTER CHICAGO | $85,000 |
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 (FY17–24, $1.7M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% 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 +42% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.
105 repeat relationships: 66 still active in FY2024, 39 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
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 FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $453k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FFOREFRONT4× · 2021–2024 · $987k · revenue +81%
- BABOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO6× · 2017–2024 · $710k · revenue +39%
- NINORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK6× · 2017–2024 · $677k · revenue +43%
Funded once
- WHWESTSIDE HEALTH AUTHORITYgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $160k · revenue +44%
- TBTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOISone grant, 2017 · $125k
- UWUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INCone grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -50%
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.
Thrive chicago's mission is to prepare chicago's youth for a vibrant future by aligning efforts and outcomes from cradle to career.
Arise chicago builds partnerships between faith communities and workers to fight workplace injustice through education, organizing, and advocating for public policy changes.
To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy
The chicagoland chamber of commerce combines the power of people, with our legacy of leadership and business advocacy, to drive a dynamic economy. we focus on delivering value for our members, making chicagoland a world-class place to live…
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…
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.
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.
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…
To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.
The mission of goodwill is to create opportunities for individuals with barriers to enhance their lives. barriers include physical or mental disabilities, lack of education and job preparation, socio-economic disadvantages, and others.…
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…
How this is measured
161 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 161 of the 188 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 FOREFRONT ↗
- Who funds BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS ↗
- Who funds MEALS ON WHEELS OF SHEBOYGAN COUNTY INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGOLAND LUTHERAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN MUSIC PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds Garfield Park Community Council ↗
- Who funds CALVIN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds ALLIES FOR COMMUNITY BUSINESS INC ↗
- Who funds The Cara Program ↗
- Who funds Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry ↗
- Who funds mRelief ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds Feeding America ↗
- Who funds Chicago Zoological Society ↗
- Who funds Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds THE WEST COOK YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS INC ↗
- Who funds JANE ADDAMS RESOURCE CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds NEW MOMS INC ↗
- Who funds A Better Chicago ↗
- Who funds BUILD INC ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago ↗
- Who funds MHUB ↗
- Who funds HOLY FAMILY MINISTRIES ↗
- Who funds Youth Guidance ↗
- Who funds St Leonard's Ministries ↗
- Who funds Maywood Fine Arts Association ↗
- Who funds HIRE360 ↗
- Who funds Inspiration Corporation ↗
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: Polk Bros Foundation Inc · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Circle of Service Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Forefront · Chicago Foundation for Women
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Christopher Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Christopher Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Lutheran World Relief Inc: 47% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Christopher Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Christopher Family 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.
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