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· Community foundation

The Community Foundation of Will County

THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WILL COUNTY connects people who care, to causes that matter to improve the lives of will county residents.

$1.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$131k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2018–2025.

Education$659kFood & Nutrition$362kReligion$342kHuman Services$309kYouth Development$298kHealth$209kRecreation & Sports$208kEmployment$198kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 28 grants below total $539,907 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,025,186 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $485,279 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $365k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $131k
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GEORGE WERDEN BUCK BOYS AND GIRLS$131,000
LA PLATA COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY$46,000
BEAT THE STREETS$33,100
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF$30,000
EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION$25,000
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK$22,000
PLAINFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$20,000
MORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES$20,000
2MORROWSTARTZ2DAY INC$15,000
SHAREFEST WILL COUNTY$15,000
FARM2VETERAN$15,000
GIVE SOMETHING BACK$15,000
BLUEPRINT AGENCY NFP$15,000
EZIO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT$15,000
PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT$15,000
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 (FY18–25, $407k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 13% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Shelterbox USA: $10k → 10%Shelterbox USA: $10k → 10%LOAVES & FISHES: $10k → 7%Loaves and Fishes Community Services: $5k → 7%Ronald Mcdonald House Charities Of Chicagoland And Nw Indiana: $11k → 7%ONE FAMILY ILLINOIS: $15k → 14%Easter Seals Joliet Region Inc: $10k → 7%One Hope United: $15k → 14%One Hope United: $13k → 14%One Hope United: $10k → 14%EASTER SEALS JOLIET REGION INC: $8k → 7%Joliet Area Community Hospice Corporation: $26k → 7%Joliet Area Community Hospice Corporation: $17k → 7%Morning Star Mission Ministries: $50k → 7%MORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES: $20k → 7%MORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES: $20k → 7%MORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES: $20k → 7%BLUEPRINT AGENCY NFP: $15k → 7%BLUEPRINT AGENCY NFP: $15k → 7%ST ANTHONY CATHOLIC CHURCH: $21k → 7%ST ANTHONY CATHOLIC CHURCH: $7k → 7%St Anthony Catholic Church: $7k → 7%Love Moves Us Inc: $35k → 7%LOVE MOVES US INC: $14k → 7%TRINITY SERVICES INC: $13k → 7%TRINITY SERVICES INC: $11k → 7%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

IL
WI
NY
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
CO
AZ
TN
GA
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.9M · 36 repeat orgs$958k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +48% since the first grant, against +14% for the ones you funded once.

36 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
38

Total granted

$1.9M
$732k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+14%

Still filing today

83%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 58% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $227k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthPhilanthropyArts & CultureFood & NutritionOther

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

  • GW
    George Werden Buck Boys & Girls Club
    4× · 2018–2025 · $192k · revenue +35%
  • NI
    NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK
    8× · 2018–2025 · $177k · revenue +48%
  • LU
    Lewis University
    3× · 2020–2024 · $157k · revenue +43%

Funded once

  • GS
    Governors State University Foundation
    one grant, 2022 · $130k · revenue +20%
  • WC
    WILL COUNTY CLERK
    one grant, 2022 · $63k
  • LO
    Lake Oconee Academy Incgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $53k · revenue +69%

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
Goodwill Industries of Northern Il and Wi Stateline Area Inc

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.…

—
2
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
3
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
4
Rockford University

To educate men & women to lead responsible lives by means of a curriculum grounded in liberal arts learning and complemented and extended by professional and practical experience, through the total academic and co-curricular experience,…

Education
5
Hilbert College

Hilbert college is an independent institution of higher learning that embraces its catholic franciscan heritage and values. students from diverse backgrounds are educated in liberal arts and professional programs to become informed…

Education
6
Loyola University of Chicago

We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.

Education
7
Bradley University

Bradley university empowers students for immediate and sustained success in their personal and professional endeavors by combining professional preparation, liberal arts and sciences, and co-curricular experiences. alongside our dedication…

Education
8
Goodwill Industries of South Central Wisconsin Inc

Goodwill of south central wisconsin's mission is to help people in our community to live, work and thrive through housing, employment and supportive services. see schedule o for continuationsupported employment and job skills training are…

Employment
9
Benedictine University

Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…

Education
10
Kishwaukee United Way

To improve lives by sharing community resources

Philanthropy
11
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
12
Lourdes University

Lourdes university, rooted in catholic and franciscan traditions, provides a values-centered education that enriches lives and advances academic excellence through the integration of the liberal arts and professional studies.

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Easter Seals of Joliet Region Inc and the most unlike its peers is Fulcrum Farm Foundation. 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 35 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%9%<5yr14%13%5–10yr18%10%10–20yr17%18%20–35yr14%28%35–55yr16%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%8%<5yr14%10%5–10yr18%10%10–20yr17%16%20–35yr14%33%35–55yr16%24%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 9% of your grantees by number, and just 8% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 4% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%3/82
the rest of the field
15%
6,021/39,803

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

66 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. 66 of the 87 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)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
65/66
Grantees still filing
51/66
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

George Werden Buck Boys & Girls Club — $192,250 · OtherGeorge Werden Buck Boys & Girls ClubJOLIET REGION CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY — $179,511 · OtherJOLIET REGION CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRYWILL COUNTY CLERK — $63,308 · OtherPLAINFIELD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH — $60,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMY — $50,500 · OtherPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY — $50,000 · Other+50 more — $876,682 · Other+50 moreLewis University — $157,254 · EducationLewis UniversityGovernors State University Foundation — $129,800 · EducationGovernors State Univ…THE PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE — $60,000 · EducationTHE PLAINFIELD SCHOO…Lake Oconee Academy Inc — $52,959 · EducationLake Oconee Academy …RIPON COLLEGE — $42,000 · EducationRIPON COLLEGEEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION — $25,000 · Education+4 more — $36,723 · Education+4 moreMORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES INC — $110,000 · Human ServicesMORNING STAR MIS…LOVE MOVES US INC — $49,000 · Human ServicesLOVE MOVES US IN…Joliet Area Community Hospice Corp — $42,700 · Human ServicesJoliet Area Comm…One Hope United — $38,000 · Human ServicesOne Hope UnitedSt Anthonys Conference of St Vincent De Paul Nfp — $34,925 · Human ServicesSt Anthonys Conf…BLUEPRINT AGENCY NFP — $30,000 · Human ServicesBLUEPRINT AGENCY…SHELTERBOX USA INC — $26,500 · Human ServicesSHELTERBOX USA I…TRINITY SERVICES INC — $23,680 · Human ServicesTRINITY SERVICES…EASTER SEALS OF JOLIET REGION INC — $17,500 · Human ServicesLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES — $15,296 · Human ServicesONE FAMILY ILLINOIS — $15,000 · Human Services+1 more — $10,500 · Human ServicesNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK — $176,550 · Food & NutritionSHAREFEST WILL COUNTY — $30,000 · Food & NutritionHEART HAVEN OUTREACH — $72,759 · Youth DevelopmentBEAT THE STREETS CHICAGO — $33,100 · Youth DevelopmentNorthwestern University — $75,000 · Recreation & SportsDurango Demon Booster Club Inc — $6,000 · Recreation & SportsUNITED WAY OF WILL COUNTY — $39,548 · PhilanthropyFULCRUM FARM FOUNDATION — $15,000 · PhilanthropyBRAIDWOOD AREA HEALTHY COMMUNITY COALITION — $10,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,472,251Education$503,736Human Services$413,101Food & Nutrition$206,550Youth Development$105,859Recreation & Sports$81,000Philanthropy$64,548

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 budgetGeorge Werden Buck Boys & Girls Club — $192,250 over 4y, 6.5% of budgetJOLIET REGION CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY — $179,511 over 7y, 4.3% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK — $176,550 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetLewis University — $157,254 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGovernors State University Foundation — $129,800 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetMORNING STAR MISSION MINISTRIES INC — $110,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetNorthwestern University — $75,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHEART HAVEN OUTREACH — $72,759 over 6y, 6.1% of budgetTHE PLAINFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE — $60,000 over 4y, 30% of budgetLake Oconee Academy Inc — $52,959 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLOVE MOVES US INC — $49,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetWARM HEART MINISTRIES — $45,609 over 3y, 45% of budgetJoliet Area Community Hospice Corp — $42,700 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRIPON COLLEGE — $42,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF WILL COUNTY — $39,548 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetJOLIET AREA HISTORICAL MUSEUM — $38,901 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF JOLIET — $38,285 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetOne Hope United — $38,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSt Anthonys Conference of St Vincent De Paul Nfp — $34,925 over 3y, 18% of budgetJOLIET JUNIOR COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $33,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSHAREFEST WILL COUNTY — $30,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetBLUEPRINT AGENCY NFP — $30,000 over 2y, 61% of budgetAFTER THE PEANUT FOUNDATION NFP — $30,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetSHELTERBOX USA INC — $26,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSENIOR SERVICES CENTER OF WILL COUNTY — $24,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTRINITY SERVICES INC — $23,680 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILL-GRUNDY CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING — $21,889 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetWILL COUNTY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $21,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ST FRANCIS — $21,407 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFARMWORKER AND LANDSCAPER ADVOCACY PROJECT — $20,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetEASTER SEALS OF JOLIET REGION INC — $17,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLOAVES & FISHES COMMUNITY SERVICES — $15,296 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWEST SUBURBAN COMMUNITY PANTRY INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION JOLIET — $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetONE FAMILY ILLINOIS — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEW SONG HEALTH CENTER BOLINGBROOK CHRISTIAN HEALTH CENTER — $12,200 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetHOLISTIC RIDING EQUESTRIAN THERAPY — $11,900 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $11,864 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Mokena Fellowship Center — $11,124 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF CHICAGOLAND & NW INDIANA — $10,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC — $10,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHOMAS MORE SOCIETY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIllinois-Wisconsin Sertoma Regional Center for Communicable Disorders — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBest Buddies International Inc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetA GIVING HEART FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetButler University — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

United Way of Will Co…United Way of Grundy …The Dupage Community …United Way of Metropo…The Chicago Community…Ageguide Northeastern…Cme Group Community F…Northern Illinois Foo…Crane Fund for Widows…The Covia FoundationArthur J Gallagher Fo…AbbVie Foundation
United Way of Will CountyIL36.7× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Will County · United Way of Grundy County · The Dupage Community Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Ageguide Northeastern Illinois Area on Aging · Cme Group Community Foundation F/K/A Nymex Foundation · Northern Illinois Food Bank · Crane Fund for Widows and Children · The Covia Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · AbbVie Foundation

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 The Community Foundation of Will County 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 · 10%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Best Buddies International Inc — 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 The Community Foundation of Will County?

Find your warmest path to The Community Foundation of Will County 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 87 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. 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 endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home