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The Friedman Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Friedman 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.

$73k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0189% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$403kHealth$88kEducation$77kScience & Tech$73kArts & Culture$22kEnvironment$13kYouth Development$10kInternational$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $68k
$25,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$4k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND$25,000
PSFC$25,000
NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$18,000
AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC$5,000
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 (FY18–18, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 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

WA
IL
WI
NY
MA
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
DC
FL
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$649k · 12 repeat orgs$135k to everyone else

12 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
21

Total granted

$649k
$105k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+28%

Still filing today

58%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k 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
HealthEducationInternationalEnvironmentHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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
    6× · 2017–2025 · $135k · revenue +13%
  • FW
    Francis W Parker School
    4× · 2020–2024 · $36k · revenue +29%
  • BZ
    BERNARD ZELL ANSHE EMET DAY SCHOOL
    4× · 2017–2020 · $35k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • WF
    WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY
    one grant, 2017 · $23k
  • BG
    BIG GREEN - 2018 CHICAGO GALA
    one grant, 2018 · $13k
  • BS
    BIG SHOULDERS
    one grant, 2018 · $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.

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
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
2
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
3
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group

Northwestern memorial healthcare is an integrated healthcare system, consisting of multiple hospitals (including northwestern memorial hospital, an academic medical center) and networks of physicians and healthcare professionals, where the…

Health
4
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
5
Hugo W Moser Research Institute At Kennedy Krieger Inc

The hugo w. moser research institute at kennedy krieger, inc. (the "research institute") is an internationally recognized research facility finding answers to problems and injuries that affect a child's developing brain. researchers have…

Science & Tech
6
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
7
Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary

THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY ("THE INFIRMARY") IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT TEACHING HOSPITAL CONDUCTING PATIENT CARE AND RESEARCH. THE INFIRMARY IS A TEACHING HOSPITAL OF HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH.…

Health
8
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Fred hutch cancer center ("fred hutch") unites innovative research and compassionate care to prevent and eliminate cancer and infectious disease. continued on schedule o

Health
9
Hadassah the Women's Zionist Org of America Inc

Hadassah, the women's zionist organization of america, inc., a new york not-for-profit corporation ("hwzoa") enhances the health and lives of people in israel, the united states and worldwide through education, advocacy, women's…

Community Improvement
10
Fuchs Mizrachi Schools

The mission of fuchs mizrachi school is to educate each child in the orthodox jewish religious zionist tradition, imbued with the love of g-d, torah, people and the land of israel.

—
11
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford burnham prebys medical discovery institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn,…

Health
12
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Ann & robert h. lurie children's hospital of chicago is dedicated to the health and well-being of all children. as the pediatric teaching facility for northwestern university feinberg school of medicine, this commitment drives us to be a…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wonderland Child & Family Services; the most unlike its peers is Culture of Healing Inc. 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

17 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. 17 of the 35 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
13/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $304,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $70,000 · OtherDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATIONMIT PLASMA SCIENCE AND FUSION: $50,000 · OtherMIT PLASMA SCIENCE AND FUSIONWORLD FUTURE SOCIETY: $23,000 · Other+18 more: $63,100 · Other+18 moreJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $135,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND …Francis W Parker School: $36,000 · EducationFrancis W …BERNARD ZELL ANSHE EMET DAY SCHOOL: $35,000 · EducationBERNARD ZE…+1 more: $1,000 · EducationPSFC: $25,000 · HealthEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $10,000 · HealthCULTURE OF HEALING INC: $2,500 · HealthNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $2,500 · Health+1 more: $750 · HealthGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $10,000 · EnvironmentAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $5,000 · InternationalFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $3,500 · InternationalThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $7,500 · Arts & Culture
Other$510,100Philanthropy$135,000Education$72,000Health$40,750Environment$10,000International$8,500Arts & Culture$7,500

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 budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $135,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $70,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetFrancis W Parker School: $36,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBERNARD ZELL ANSHE EMET DAY SCHOOL: $35,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEndeavor Health Clinical Operations: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGARFIELD PARK CONSERVATORY ALLIANCE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWONDERLAND CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSafe & Sound Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY SERVICES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RYAN LICHT SANG BIPOLAR FOUNDATION INC: $750 over 2y, 0.2% 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.

The Chicago Community…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL14.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Friedman Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Friedman 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%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 Friedman Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Friedman Family 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 35 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

    Play a game based on Friedman Family’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