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The Gies Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Gies 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.

$2.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.7M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Education$9.3MHealth$1.3MYouth Development$360kRecreation & Sports$117kArts & Culture$40kHuman Services$39kInternational$31kCrime & Legal$30kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $63k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $303k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.7M
$51,600
Median grant
1
States reached
$976k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY$1,685,000
ACCELERATE INSTITUTE$102,500
CHRIST THE KING ACADEMY$98,000
BY THE HAND CLUB FOR KIDS$51,600
HOLY TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL$50,850
GLENWOOD SCHOOL FOR BOYS$38,000
Gigi's Playhouse$25,000
Chicago Area Track and Field$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 (FY19–19, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LAZARUS HOUSE: $10k → 8%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 18 repeat orgs$312k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against -11% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
11

Total granted

$11M
$282k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
-11%

Still filing today

50%
36%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% 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
EducationRecreation & SportsInternationalHuman ServicesCivil RightsArts & CultureOther
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

  • TJ
    THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2019–2023 · $1.4M · revenue +79%
  • Culver Educational Foundation
    8× · 2017–2024 · $500k · revenue +73%
  • FT
    FOR THE CHILDREN
    8× · 2017–2024 · $107k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • MC
    MIDWESTERN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
    one grant, 2021 · $150k
  • CT
    CHRIST THE KING
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
  • LF
    LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $31k · revenue +164%
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
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
2
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
3
Tcs Education - Texas Inc

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.

—
4
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago

Achieving international impact through world-class research and education in fundamental computer science and information technology.

Education
5
The Chicago School - California Inc

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.

—
6
Taylor University

The mission of Taylor University is to develop servant-leaders marked with a passion to minister Christ's redemptive love, grace, and truth to a world in need.

Education
7
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
8
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management

Lake Forest Graduate School of Management's mission is to bring the real world to business education and leadership development.

—
9
Teach St Louis

Founded In 2018, Teach St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Teacher Residency) launched to improve teacher quality and retention in St. Louis, a city where 40% of new teachers exit the classroom in their first three years. Teach St. Louis…

Education
10
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
11
Breck School

We create confident learners who lead lives of intellectual curiosity, self-knowledge, and social responsibility.

Education
12
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Big Shoulders Fund; the most unlike its peers is Thomas Jefferson University. 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

13 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. 13 of the 31 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
6/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY: $5,356,567 · OtherCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMYHUNTINGTON'S DISEASE SOCIETY: $1,125,750 · OtherHUNTINGTON'S DISEASE SOCIETYBy The Hand Club For Kids: $297,000 · OtherHOLY TRINITY HIGH SCHOOL: $271,029 · Other+16 more: $1,074,900 · Other+16 moreTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $1,383,050 · EducationTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITYAccelerate Institute: $827,500 · EducationAccelerate InstituteCulver Educational Foundation: $500,000 · EducationCulver Educational FoundationTeach for America Inc: $175,000 · EducationTeach for America Inc+1 more: $10,000 · EducationFOR THE CHILDREN: $106,500 · Recreation & SportsLIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC: $31,000 · InternationalCASA KANE COUNTY: $30,000 · Civil RightsBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $25,000 · HealthMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureLAZARUS HOUSE: $10,000 · Human Services
Other$8,125,246Education$2,895,550Recreation & Sports$106,500International$31,000Civil Rights$30,000Health$25,000Arts & Culture$10,000Human Services$10,000

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 budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $1,383,050 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAccelerate Institute: $827,500 over 9y, 12% of budgetCulver Educational Foundation: $500,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetBy The Hand Club For Kids: $297,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $175,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFOR THE CHILDREN: $106,500 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetLIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC: $31,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCASA KANE COUNTY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $25,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAZARUS HOUSE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBeyond Sports Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

  • Who funds THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Accelerate Institute ↗
  • Who funds Culver Educational Foundation ↗
  • Who funds By The Hand Club For Kids ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds FOR THE CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds LIFESONG FOR ORPHANS INC ↗
  • Who funds CASA KANE COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
  • Who funds MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds Big Shoulders Fund ↗
  • Who funds LAZARUS HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds Beyond Sports Foundation ↗

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…AbbVie FoundationAmerican Endowment Fo…The Blackbaud Giving …Charities Aid Foundat…Network for GoodNational Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL14.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · AbbVie Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Gies Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Gies Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%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 · 0–20%
    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 31 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 Gies’ 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