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The First Spoke Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· 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
5
States reached
$650k
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 2023.

Philanthropy$7.3MEducation$6.2MHuman Services$4.2MInternational$3.4MEnvironment$2.9MHealth$1.9MCrime & Legal$600kHousing & Shelter$483kOther$0
02FY2023 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $122k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+5 grants · $2.2M
$60,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Partnership Project$650,000
Carbon Mapper Inc$500,000
Birthright Israel Foundation$500,000
Secure Community Network Inc$277,500
United States Energy Foundation$250,000
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago$150,497
The Jewish Federations of North America$100,000
All Chicago Making Homelessness History$100,000
New Venture Fund$100,000
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund$100,000
Yale University$75,000
Family Christian Health Center$70,000
Northshore University HealthSystem$60,000
City Colleges of Chicago Foundation$50,000
Children First Fund The Chicago Public Schools Foundation$50,000
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 (FY20–22, $4.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies Inc: $100k → 7%Jewish Community Centers of Chicago JCC: $78k → 14%Healthy Hood Chicago: $10k → 14%Jewish Child and Family Services: $50k → 14%Illinois Partners for Human Service: $15k → 14%The ARK: $3.8M → 14%Council for Jewish Elderly: $50k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
NJ
CT
CA
DC
TX
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.

43%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.8M · 20 repeat orgs$13M to everyone else

20 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2023, 12 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
48

Total granted

$9.8M
$12M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+20%

Still filing today

95%
94%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
EducationHealthPhilanthropyHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    3× · 2017–2020 · $645k · revenue +13%
  • UNITED STATES ENERGY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2021–2023 · $550k · revenue +44%
  • EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC
    5× · 2019–2023 · $500k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • University of Illinois Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $5.3M · revenue +70%
  • TA
    THE ARK
    one grant, 2022 · $3.8M · revenue -14%
  • SH
    SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +20%
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
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

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…

Health
2
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs

The Jewish Council on Urban Affair's (JCUA) longstanding mission is to combat poverty, racism and antisemitism working in partnership with diverse communities. JCUA uses a community organizing model to engage the Jewish community in the…

Community Improvement
3
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.

Education
4
University Family Physicians Inc

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…

—
5
Loyola University of Chicago

We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.

Education
6
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
7
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
8
Center for Housing and Health

Chh honors every person's right to a home and health care, by bridging the housing and health care systems, to improve the lives of chicagoans experiencing homelessness.

Housing & Shelter
9
Aids Foundation of Chicago

The aids foundation of chicago mobilizes communities to create equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to hiv and related chronic disease.

Health
10
Union Health System

To serve our communities by provding innovative and compassionate healthcare.

Health
11
Mchc Chicago Hospital Council

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…

Health
12
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago

Infant welfare society of chicago (iws) (d/b/a iws family health) provides quality medical, dental and behavioral health services for the health, physical and mental development of children and their families in the chicagoland community.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Health and Medicine Policy Research Group; the most unlike its peers is Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation. 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

85 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. 85 of the 87 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)
17
Early backer (in before they grew)
82/85
Grantees still filing
59/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $2,817,497 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO…ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY A…THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $900,000 · PhilanthropyTHE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF …JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $645,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METR…UNITED STATES ENERGY FOUNDATION: $550,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED STATES ENERGY FOUND…UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $250,000 · Philanthropy+7 more: $470,000 · Philanthropy+7 moreUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $5,250,000 · EducationUniversity of Illinois F…+12 more: $805,000 · Education+12 moreTHE ARK: $3,750,000 · Human ServicesTHE ARK+6 more: $302,500 · Human Services+6 moreBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $3,050,000 · InternationalBIRTHRIGHT I…+2 more: $115,000 · InternationalCarbon Mapper Inc: $1,500,000 · EnvironmentCarbon Map…The Partnership Project Inc: $650,000 · EnvironmentThe Partne…NEW VENTURE FUND: $200,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTUR…RESOURCE MEDIA: $200,000 · EnvironmentRESOURCE M…CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $975,000 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNI…City Colleges of Chicago Foundation: $175,000 · OtherHeartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights: $165,000 · OtherEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $500,000 · OtherEVERYTOWN FOR G…ALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $445,000 · OtherALL CHICAGO MAK…SECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC: $310,000 · OtherSECURE COMMUNIT…ONEGOAL: $250,000 · OtherONEGOAL+29 more: $1,029,875 · Other+29 moreAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $500,000 · HealthSINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $500,000 · HealthMICHAEL REESE HEALTH TRUST: $350,000 · HealthSaint Anthony Hospital: $90,000 · HealthFamily Christian Health Center Inc: $70,000 · HealthEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $60,000 · Health+5 more: $127,000 · Health
Philanthropy$6,682,497Education$6,055,000Human Services$4,052,500International$3,165,000Environment$2,550,000Other$3,849,875Health$1,697,000

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 budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $5,250,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE ARK: $3,750,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $3,050,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $2,817,497 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetCarbon Mapper Inc: $1,500,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $1,050,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $900,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Partnership Project Inc: $650,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $645,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUNITED STATES ENERGY FOUNDATION: $550,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $500,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $500,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $500,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY: $445,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetMICHAEL REESE HEALTH TRUST: $350,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetSECURE COMMUNITY NETWORK INC: $310,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $250,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetONEGOAL: $250,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCENTER FOR COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INC: $200,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRESOURCE MEDIA: $200,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCity Colleges of Chicago Foundation: $175,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetHeartland Alliance for Human Needs and Rights: $165,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $160,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetYale University: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FUNDERS NETWORK: $125,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE HAROLD GRINSPOON FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $100,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LEKET ISRAEL INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCatholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNETWORK OF JEWISH HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetSaint Anthony Hospital: $90,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJewish Community Centers of Chicago: $77,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOMP-U-DOPT INC: $70,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFamily Christian Health Center Inc: $70,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $60,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSINAI COMMUNITY INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNAMI Chicago: $50,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNational Louis University: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN FIRST FUND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJewish Child and Family Services: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Circle of Service Fou…The Chicago Community…United Way of Metropo…Lloyd a Fry FoundationRobert R McCormick Fo…Polk Bros Foundation …Arie and Ida Crown Me…Michael Reese Health …The Joyce FoundationVivo FoundationJohn D and Catherine …University of Chicago
Circle of Service FoundationIL83.5× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 First Spoke Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The First Spoke Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
  • Keshet Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
29report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 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.

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 87 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on First Spoke’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