Illinois · Public charity
The First Spoke Foundation
The Foundation is organized to foster, promote, support, develop, encourage and maintain the broad charitable, educational, and/or religious purpose of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Foundation as authorized in their by-laws.
- $3.3M
- Granted FY2023
- 25
- Grants FY2023
- 20
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 60%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2023
- $60,000
- Largest grant, FY2023
- $650,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 2 to 39
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2023
- 5
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 60% of the organizations The First Spoke Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 36% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 20 | $2.8M | 60% |
| FY2022 | 16 | $11M | 44% |
| FY2021 | 39 | $3.2M | 72% |
| FY2020 | 33 | $3.7M | 88% |
| FY2019 | 2 | $600k | 50% |
| FY2018 | 3 | $985k | 33% |
| FY2017 | 2 | $435k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2023, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois Foundation | $5,250,000 | 1 | 1% |
| The Ark | $3,750,000 | 1 | 23% |
| Birthright Israel Foundation | $3,050,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Carbon Mapper Inc | $1,500,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Chicago Community Foundation | $975,000 | 3 | n/a |
| The Partnership Project Inc | $650,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago | $645,000 | 3 | 0% |
| United States Energy Foundation | $550,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund Inc | $500,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago | $500,000 | 3 | 0% |
Show all 80 grantees
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The First Spoke Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Circle of Service Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Michael Reese Health Trust · The Joyce Foundation · Vivo Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · University of Chicago
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The First Spoke Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The First Spoke 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.
About The First Spoke Foundation
- How much does The First Spoke Foundation give?
- The First Spoke Foundation reported 25 grants totaling $3,304,997 in its FY2023 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 39 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does The First Spoke Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2023, its largest causes are Philanthropy (26%), Education (22%), Human Services (15%).
- Who are The First Spoke Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2023: University of Illinois Foundation ($5.3M), The Ark ($3.8M), Birthright Israel Foundation ($3.0M).
- Does The First Spoke Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 60% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The First Spoke Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Circle of Service Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc.
- Where is The First Spoke Foundation based?
- The First Spoke Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on First Spoke’s filings →