· Private foundation
The Donald F and Elizabeth Gardner Foundation Inc
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 $10k16 grants · $40k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $80k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MOOSE CHARITIES | $20,000 |
| RED ARROW FOUNDATION | $15,000 |
| ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF KEWAUNEE COUNTY INC | $15,000 |
| CDGA | $10,000 |
| THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE | $10,000 |
| BRIGHT FUTURES FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $8,000 |
| EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION | $7,000 |
| MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| IL FIREFIGHTERS ALLIANCE | $2,000 |
| LEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND | $2,000 |
| GLENVIEW LIONS CLUB | $2,000 |
| SHRINERS CHILDREN'S | $2,000 |
| ST JUDES | $2,000 |
| SUSAN G KOMEN | $2,000 |
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 (FY20–25, $42k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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.
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.
37 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $47k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MCMOOSE CHARITIES INC6× · 2020–2025 · $80k · revenue +74%
- RARED ARROW CAMP FOUNDATION INC3× · 2020–2022 · $42k · revenue +151%
- CUCALDWELL UNIVERSITY INC2× · 2017–2018 · $40k · revenue +28%
Funded once
- MMOOSEHEARTone grant, 2018 · $35k
- BFBRIGHT FUTURES FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +126%
- NSNJ SHARING NETWORKone grant, 2023 · $10k
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 Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is an independent and separate nonprofit entity from the University of Illinois. Our mission is to encourage and administer private gifts and serve the UI System by working closely with…
To advocate for and support hospitals and health systems as they serve patients and communities in illinois.
The mission of mchc chicago hospital council is to foster, promote, support, develop and encourage charitable, educational, scholastic and scientific purposes; promote cooperative effort and action between hospitals and other health care…
Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.
To give members the ability to control their financial destiny by providing members with the means to satisfy their needs for financial services in a comfortable family-like environment. in doing so, the credit union strives to maintain…
To strengthen the economic social environmental and governmental conditions for manufacturing and allied enterprises in the state of illinois, resulting in an englarged business base and increased employment.
Volunteers of america of illinois partners with the people we serve to create transformational and lasting change in their lives through programs that support, empower, and transform.
The saint louis zoo association was established to support and enhance the saint louis zoo by providing facilities, funds, and advice. the association provides direct financial support to the zoo for renovations, new facilities, programs,…
The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.
The mission of the racine zoological society is to foster an enlightening and affordable wildlife experience that improves the bond between people and nature. the society will provide for the recreation and education of the people, the…
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…
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…
How this is measured
25 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. 25 of the 62 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 MOOSE CHARITIES INC ↗
- Who funds THE WETLANDS INITIATIVE ↗
- Who funds RED ARROW CAMP FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CALDWELL UNIVERSITY INC ↗
- Who funds THE CENTER OF CONCERN ↗
- Who funds Home of the Sparrow Inc ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO DISTRICT GOLF ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS INC ↗
- Who funds BRIGHT FUTURES FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF KEWAUNEE COUNTY INC ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds Lions Clubs International Foundation ↗
- Who funds SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN ↗
- Who funds K9 Companions Inc ↗
- Who funds MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds UNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS OF ILLINOIS INC ↗
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: The Chicago Community Trust · AbbVie Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Donald F and Elizabeth Gardner Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Donald F and Elizabeth Gardner Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- Caldwell University Inc: 2% of income from government
- Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Donald F and Elizabeth Gardner’s filings →