· Private foundation
The Dancing Skies 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.
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 $10k3 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k13 grants · $255k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $240k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION | $190,000 |
| FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | $50,000 |
| THE NIGHT MINISTRY | $45,000 |
| BEREA COLLEGE | $40,000 |
| The Joffrey Ballet | $25,000 |
| FISHER CENTER FOR ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH | $20,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $20,000 |
| DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS | $20,000 |
| TACF | $20,000 |
| MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION | $15,000 |
| THE HOPE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| LES TURNER ALS FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO | $10,000 |
| WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN | $10,000 |
| ANERA | $10,000 |
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 (FY17–25, $655k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
18 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION9× · 2017–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +53%
THE NIGHT MINISTRY9× · 2017–2025 · $570k · revenue +11%
BEREA COLLEGE9× · 2017–2025 · $330k · revenue +50%
Funded once
- PBPRECIOUS BLOOD MINISTRY RECONCILIATIONone grant, 2023 · $20k
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.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the…
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.
National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…
City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION
The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…
The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
How this is measured
13 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. 13 of the 21 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 RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds THE NIGHT MINISTRY ↗
- Who funds BEREA COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗
- Who funds PRECIOUS BLOOD MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION NFP ↗
- Who funds THE HOPE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Harold Colbert Jones Memorial Community Center ↗
- Who funds THE JOFFREY BALLET ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds Charity Navigator ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID ↗
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Dancing Skies Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Dancing Skies Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Dancing Skies Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Dancing Skies 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.
Play a game based on Dancing Skies’ filings →