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The Dartnell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Dartnell 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.

$10k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$45kHuman Services$28kArts & Culture$9kYouth Development$2kHealth$1kReligion$1kHousing & Shelter$1k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$100k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY$5,000
BOOKS IN EVERY BAK$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $29k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%DRAYTON HALL PRESERVATION TRUST: $1k → 12%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $5k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $5k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $5k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $3k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $3k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $2k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $2k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $2k → 14%ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $1k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$77k · 8 repeat orgs$9k to everyone else

8 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
4

Total granted

$77k
$4k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+49%

Still filing today

88%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterArts & CultureOther
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • TI
    THE ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $28k · revenue +38%
  • Lake Forest College
    8× · 2017–2024 · $27k · revenue +73%
  • DT
    DEFENDING THE EARLY YEARS INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $7k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • AF
    ALI FORNEY CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue +49%
  • WB
    WOMEN'S BD OF NORTHWESTERN MEM HOSP
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
  • SF
    SIMPLY FROM THE HEART
    one grant, 2020 · $1k
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.

04Its field

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.

1
Early Learning Indiana Inc

Early learning indiana (eli) is on a mission to ensure every child is empowered with essential skills to thrive in kindergarten and beyond. (see schedule o for continuation)

Human Services
2
Lycee Francais de Chicago Inc

The Lycee Francais de Chicago, driven by our core values of respect, responsibility and the joy of learning, empowers students to grow into active global citizens.

Education
3
Children's Museum of Illinois

The operation of a children's museum.

Arts & Culture
4
Chicago Historical Society

The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…

Arts & Culture
5
Lawndale Educational and Regional Network Charter School

Provide students with the academic foundation and ambition to earn a college degree.

Education
6
Chicago Commons Association

Chicago Commons' mission is to empower individuals, families, and communities to overcome poverty, embrace opportunities, and thrive across generations. To fulfill that mission, we provide high quality early childhood education,…

Human Services
7
East Lake Academy

To provide catholic elementary education to students in the lake forest, illinois area.

Education
8
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
9
Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children

The membership organizations mission is to faciliate the optimal development of young children by advocating for the rights, needs and well-being of young children and educating, supporting, and collaborating.

Education
10
Northbrook Community Nursery School

Northbrook community nursery school, through the cooperation of staff, board and parents, is committed to meeting the social, emotional, intellectual and physical needs of each child. the preschool strives to facilitate this development…

—
11
Educare of West DuPage

To increase access to quality, comprehensive child care and early learning experiences for children from birth to five and their families and to increase school readiness in children from low income backgrounds.

Education
12
Lincoln Park Cooperative Nursery School

The mission of lincoln park cooperative nursery school is to provide a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate program for preschool children, governed by a parent board and staffed by professional early childhood educators with…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Admiral At the Lake Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Books in Every Bag. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 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. 10 of the 13 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Lake Forest College: $26,500 · EducationLake Forest CollegeDEFENDING THE EARLY YEARS INC: $7,000 · EducationDEFENDING THE EARLY YEARS INCBooks in Every Bag: $5,000 · EducationBooks in Every BagBateman Boosters: $3,000 · EducationBateman BoostersTHE ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $27,500 · Human ServicesTHE ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETYDRAYTON HALL PRESERVATION TRUST: $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE ALLIANCE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD: $3,500 · OtherTHE ALLIA…WORLD FND FOR GIRL GUIDES GIRL SCOU: $2,000 · OtherWORLD FND…WOMEN'S BD OF NORTHWESTERN MEM HOSP: $1,000 · OtherWOMEN'S B…SIMPLY FROM THE HEART: $1,000 · OtherSIMPLY FR…Chicago Children's Museum: $6,000 · Arts & CultureTHE ADMIRAL AT THE LAKE FOUNDATION: $1,500 · Housing & ShelterALI FORNEY CENTER INC: $1,000 · Housing & Shelter
Education$41,500Human Services$28,500Other$7,500Arts & Culture$6,000Housing & Shelter$2,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE ILLINOIS SAINT ANDREW SOCIETY: $27,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetLake Forest College: $26,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Children's Museum: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBooks in Every Bag: $5,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetBateman Boosters: $3,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetTHE ADMIRAL AT THE LAKE FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetALI FORNEY CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDRAYTON HALL PRESERVATION TRUST: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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.

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.

The Bank of America C…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC7.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Dartnell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Dartnell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Dartnell Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Dartnell 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.

    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 13 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

    Play a game based on Dartnell’s filings →

    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