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The Grainger Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Grainger Foundation Inc

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.

$17M
Granted FY2023
118
Grants FY2023
17
States reached
$2.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02Its granteesRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$19MPhilanthropy$18MArts & Culture$6.5MHealth$5.3MReligion$1.7MEnvironment$1.7MAnimals$1.0MScience & Tech$1.0MOther$0
02FY2023 · 118 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 118 grants below total $14,913,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $16,693,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,780,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k14 grants · $70k
  • $10k–50k70 grants · $1.5M
  • $50k–250k19 grants · $1.6M
  • $250k+15 grants · $12M
$25,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$172M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Rush University Medical Center$2,000,000
University of Illinois Foundation$2,000,000
The Geneva Foundation of Presbyterian Homes$1,061,000
Lincoln Park Zoo$1,000,000
Kenilworth Union Church$1,000,000
Miami University$1,000,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology$600,000
Northern Illinois Food Bank$500,000
National Academy of Engineering Fund$500,000
Kenilworth Union Church$500,000
National Ability Center$500,000
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital$300,000
mHUB$250,000
Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center 1871$250,000
Chicago Botanic Garden$250,000
02Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

51%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$29M · 68 repeat orgs$28M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

68 repeat relationships: 68 still active in FY2023, 0 since wound down; 39 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

68
31

Total granted

$29M
$22M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+14%

Still filing today

85%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5.9M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23
EducationHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TA
    THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
    2× · 2022–2023 · $5.1M · revenue +12%
  • RU
    Rush University Medical Center
    2× · 2022–2023 · $2.0M · revenue +6%
  • EF
    Erie Family Health Foundation Inc
    2× · 2022–2023 · $1.9M · revenue +48%

Funded once

  • CC
    CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $9.8M
  • FC
    Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
    one grant, 2022 · $4.9M
  • YU
    Yale University
    one grant, 2022 · $2.5M
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.

03Its 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
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.

—
2
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
3
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
4
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
5
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
6
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
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
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
9
Legal Aid Chicago

At legal aid chicago, we work together to provide high quality civil legal aid to people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.through advocacy, education, collaboration, and litigation we empower individuals, protect fundamental…

Crime & Legal
10
The Chicago Bar Foundation

The chicago bar foundation brings the legal community together through advocacy, funding, and innovation to improve access to justice for people in need and to make the legal system more fair, equitable, and effective.

Education
11
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
12
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Lake County Inc; the most unlike its peers is Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
03the grantee network

110 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. 110 of the 142 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
109/110
Grantees still filing
77/110
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $9,795,600 · OtherCHICAGO COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONFidelity Charitable Gift Fund: $4,897,800 · OtherFidelity Charitable Gift FundYale University: $2,500,000 · OtherYale UniversityKENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $1,620,000 · OtherKENILWORTH UNION CHURCHPreservation Fdn of Lk Cty Forest Preserv: $1,000,000 · OtherMIAMI UNIVERSITY: $1,000,000 · Other+76 more: $6,138,000 · Other+76 moreUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $9,987,168 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATIONTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $5,051,121 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $2,010,000 · EducationUniversity of Illinois FoundationLake Forest College: $1,000,000 · EducationTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $1,000,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $900,000 · Education+14 more: $610,000 · EducationRush University Medical Center: $2,010,000 · HealthErie Family Health Foundation Inc: $1,900,000 · HealthTHE JOSSELYN CENTER NFP: $200,000 · Health+12 more: $385,000 · HealthGENEVA FOUNDATION OF PRESBYTERIAN HOMES: $3,086,000 · Philanthropy+6 more: $281,750 · PhilanthropyMUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC: $1,000,000 · Arts & CultureWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureELAWA FARM FOUNDATION: $55,000 · Arts & CultureRagdale Foundation: $50,000 · Arts & CultureFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $50,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $100,000 · Arts & CultureLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $1,000,000 · Animals+1 more: $10,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER: $600,000 · Recreation & SportsUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION: $160,000 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$26,951,400Education$20,558,289Health$4,495,000Philanthropy$3,367,750Arts & Culture$1,405,000Animals$1,010,000Recreation & Sports$770,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION: $9,987,168 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $5,051,121 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetGENEVA FOUNDATION OF PRESBYTERIAN HOMES: $3,086,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $2,010,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $2,010,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetErie Family Health Foundation Inc: $1,900,000 over 2y, 7.5% of budgetMUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetLake Forest College: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE NEWBERRY LIBRARY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $900,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ABILITY CENTER: $600,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetNORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOD BANK: $570,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING FUND: $500,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $260,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMHUB: $250,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetChicagoland Entrepreneurial Center: $250,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetALIGHT: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMercy Corps: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JOSSELYN CENTER NFP: $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION: $160,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetThe Beacon Place NFP: $150,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetIEEE FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetYOUTH AND FAMILY COUNSELING: $140,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF FISHER HOUSE - ILLINOIS INC: $100,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetHOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetARDEN SHORE CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES: $100,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNORTH CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $87,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetGROWING HEALTHY PEOPLE: $85,000 over 2y, 76% of budgetUNITED WAY OF LAKE COUNTY INC: $80,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSONGS BY HEART FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetCOLLEGE BOUND OPPORTUNITIES: $75,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetNICASA NFP: $65,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGPF FOUNDATION: $55,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetELAWA FARM FOUNDATION: $55,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetElyssas Mission NFP: $55,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetGREAT LAKES ADAPTIVE SPORTS ASSOCIATION: $55,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY LAKE COUNTY: $50,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRUSHWOOD CENTER AT RYERSON WOODS: $50,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetHistory Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff: $50,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetPADS Lake County Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSTATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRagdale Foundation: $50,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetMOSAIC HOUSE MINISTRIES: $50,000 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% 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.

John and Kathleen Sch…The Gorter Family Fou…The Lake County Commu…The Chicago Community…Northwestern Memorial…Trustmark FoundationCircle of Service Fou…AbbVie FoundationHealthcare Foundation…United Way of Lake Co…The Buchanan Family F…Clarks Fork Foundation
John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber PhilanthropyIL59.2× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: John and Kathleen Schreiber Foundation D/B/A Schreiber Philanthropy · The Gorter Family Foundation · The Lake County Community Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group · Trustmark Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County · United Way of Lake County Inc · The Buchanan Family Foundation · Clarks Fork 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.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Grainger Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Grainger Foundation Inc 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 142 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $22M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Grainger’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