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The Ephraim Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ephraim Family 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.

$1.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$1.2M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$505kInternational$503kArts & Culture$321kPhilanthropy$35kHealth$21kYouth Development$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $31k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $114k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.2M
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$1,208,000
WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF$114,000
MISSION EL FARO$11,000
FREE WHEELCHAIR MISSION$10,000
THE PEOPLE'S MUSIC SCHOOL$10,000
NEW LIFE CENTERS$6,000
CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION$1,000
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF METRO CHICAGO$500
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF CHICAGO$500
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 (FY25–25, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $1k → 11%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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 5 repeat orgs$68k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +97% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
7

Total granted

$2.7M
$60k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+97%
+15%

Still filing today

100%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k 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
EducationYouth DevelopmentPublic Safety & DisasterArts & CultureRecreation & SportsHealthOther
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

  • II
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    6× · 2018–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +28%
  • WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFP
    8× · 2017–2025 · $583k · revenue +83%
  • TP
    The People's Music School
    8× · 2017–2025 · $329k · revenue +111%

Funded once

  • CF
    COLLINGS FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2024 · $35k
  • MO
    MISSION OF HOPE INC MISSION OF HOPE HAITI INC
    one grant, 2020 · $16k · revenue -6%
  • HS
    Habilitative Systems Incgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +75%
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
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
2
Ability Kc

Our mission is to build brighter futures for children and adults with disabilities by providing comprehensive medical, therapeutic, educational, and vocational services.

—
3
Harlem Lacrosse and Leadership Corporation

Harlem lacrosse's mission is to empower the children who are most at risk for academic decline and dropout to rise above their challenges and reach their full potential. harlem lacrosse inspires children to dream about tomorrow while…

Recreation & Sports
4
Students Run Chicago
Health
5
Project Orbis International Inc

Orbis works around the world to prevent blindness and restore sight for people in places where eye care is out of reach, ensuring vision impairment does not adversely affect whether people can learn, work, or thrive overall. with the right…

International
6
Association House of Chicago

Association house's mission is to advance each person's full participation in the life of their families, communities, and society. since 1899, we have served a vibrant, multicultural community. we used a trauma informed, culturally…

Human Services
7
Bearings Bike Shop Inc

The organization's mission is to put the right tools in the hands of youth enabling them to advance their skills to build productive lives.

Human Services
8
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

SRAlab is dedicated to providing the best patient outcomes through the highest-quality clinical care, translational research, scientific discovery and education.

Health
9
International Youth Foundation

Iyf is a global ngo that prepares young people to be healthy, productive and engaged citizens.

International
10
No Limits Academy Inc

No limits academy seeks to glorify god by providing disabled students with the academic resources, technology, adaptive equipment and self-respect that they need to achieve their fullest potential.

Education
11
Mustard Seed Communities Inc

Msc's mission program began in 1993 and is structured to benefit both the residents of mustard seed communities and the mission volunteers. given that the children are abandoned and have disabilities, feeling loved is especially critical…

International
12
Invisible Girl Project

Invisible girl project's (igp) mission is to save girls' lives and end female gendercide in india. igp raises global awareness about this issue, partners with indian organizations that rescue and care for vulnerable girls, pursues justice,…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mission of Hope Inc Mission of Hope Haiti Inc; the most unlike its peers is Illinois Institute of Technology. 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

11 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 11 of the 16 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Illinois Institute of Technology: $1,713,000 · EducationIllinois Institute of Technology+1 more: $28,500 · EducationWORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFP: $583,050 · Public Safety & DisasterWORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFPThe People's Music School: $328,850 · Arts & CultureThe People's …COLLINGS FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 · OtherHabilitative Systems Inc: $5,000 · Other+6 more: $5,200 · OtherFREE WHEELCHAIR MISSION: $26,000 · HealthMISSION OF HOPE INC MISSION OF HOPE HAITI INC: $16,400 · ReligionNew Life Centers of Chicagoland: $6,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $500 · Youth Development
Education$1,741,500Public Safety & Disaster$583,050Arts & Culture$328,850Other$45,200Health$26,000Religion$16,400Youth Development$6,500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $1,713,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD BICYCLE RELIEF NFP: $583,050 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetThe People's Music School: $328,850 over 8y, 4.2% of budgetMISSION EL FARO INC: $28,500 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetFREE WHEELCHAIR MISSION: $26,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMISSION OF HOPE INC MISSION OF HOPE HAITI INC: $16,400 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHabilitative Systems Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRESTORING THE PATH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $500 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile Foundation
Amazonsmile FoundationWA3.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Ephraim Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ephraim Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%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
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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.

    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 16 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

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    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