· Private foundation
The Fermata Charitable 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, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k12 grants · $38k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $63k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $85k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| St Paul Lutheran Church | $85,000 |
| Northern Illinois Food Bank | $25,000 |
| DuPage PADS Inc | $18,000 |
| NAMI Johnson County | $10,000 |
| Shelter House | $10,000 |
| NAMI DuPage Community Center | $8,000 |
| Zion Lutheran Church | $6,000 |
| Bridge Communities | $5,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
| New Moms | $4,000 |
| Roger Baldwin Foundation (ACLU) | $2,000 |
| Breakthrough T1D | $2,000 |
| Outreach House | $2,000 |
| Pancreatic Cancer Action Network | $1,000 |
| SCARCE | $1,000 |
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 (FY19–25, $41k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 20% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-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.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against +43% for those funded once.
31 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 3 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, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NINORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK7× · 2019–2025 · $147k · revenue +47%
- DPDUPAGE PADS INC7× · 2019–2025 · $99k · revenue +149%
- BCBRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC6× · 2019–2025 · $38k · revenue +140%
Funded once
- NONAMI OF DUPAGE COUNTY ILLINOISgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $8k · revenue +87%
- ACAUGUSTANA COLLEGEgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +27%
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INCgraduatedone grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +43%
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.
Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…
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…
Common good iowa engages iowans to create and advocate for research-based public policy that makes life better and more equitable for all who make iowa home.
Community care health plan's mission is to develop and demonstrate innovative, flexible, community-based approaches to care for at-risk adults, in order to optimize their quality of life and optimize the allocation of community resources.
The international center for research for women (icrw) is a global research institute, with a mission to advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and structurally excluded populations with actionable evidence and solutions.
The mission of the university of illinois alumni association is to enhance and advance the relationship between the university of illinois at urbana-champaign (the university) and all its alumni; to inspire lifelong loyalty and pride among…
The foundation works to defend and promote the constitution of the united states, focusing especially on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and 14th amendments. the foundation also works to defend and promote the constitution of the…
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.
The union works to advocate and advance a public policy agenda to support and protect the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of iowa. it works to maintain throughout the united states the rights of free…
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.
Midwest dairy works with others to give consumers an excellent dairy experience increasing sales, fostering innovation, and inspiring consumer confidence of dairy products and practices.
How this is measured
30 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. 30 of the 52 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 NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds DUPAGE PADS INC ↗
- Who funds BRIDGE COMMUNITIES INC ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS JOHNSON COUNTY ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS-IOWA INC ↗
- Who funds SCARCE ↗
- Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
- Who funds THE OUTREACH HOUSE ↗
- Who funds CATHERINE MCAULEY CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds SHELTER HOUSE COMMUNITY SHELTER AND TRANSITION SERVICES ↗
- Who funds THE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds PANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds WOMENS HEALTH PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds NAMI OF DUPAGE COUNTY ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds The Gardenworks Project ↗
- Who funds THE ENGLERT CIVIC THEATRE INC ↗
- Who funds UNITED AFRICAN ORGANIZATION ↗
- Who funds AUGUSTANA COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds THE ROGER BALDWIN FOUNDATION OF ACLU INC ↗
- Who funds MISERICORDIA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds NEW MOMS INC ↗
- Who funds DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO PUBLIC MEDIA 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: Community Foundation of Johnson County · Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · GreenState Credit Union · Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Inc · Washington County Riverboat Foundation Inc · Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation · The Dupage Community Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Edward Jones Foundation · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Fermata Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Fermata Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Fermata’s filings →