· Private foundation
The Howard S Dubin Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k40 grants · $141k
- $10k–50k18 grants · $310k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $65k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Window to the World Communications | $65,000 |
| GIVE DIRECTLY INC | $40,000 |
| WBEZ | $30,000 |
| Benedictine Sisters of Chicago | $25,000 |
| Pet Friendly Services | $25,000 |
| University of Denver | $20,250 |
| Northwestern University (Medill Student Experience | $20,000 |
| Illinois Holocaust Museum | $20,000 |
| FIDO INC | $15,000 |
| Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's | $15,000 |
| Pepperdine University | $15,000 |
| Evanston Roundtable Media NFP | $15,000 |
| URBAN INITIATIVES | $10,000 |
| Evanston Public Library | $10,000 |
| Society of Professional Journalists Foundation | $10,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $57k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
Which US states your grants reach
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +51% since the first grant, against +14% for the ones you funded once.
112 repeat relationships — 52 still active in FY2025, 60 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- WTWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC6× · 2020–2025 · $352k · revenue +16%
- PUPEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY9× · 2017–2025 · $139k · revenue +51%
- UOUNIVERSITY OF DENVER9× · 2017–2025 · $106k · revenue +33%
Funded once
- ASAdlei Stevenson Center for Democracyone grant, 2020 · $10k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $10k
- RARural Animal Rescue Effortone grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +14%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Chicago canine rescue foundation finds permanent homes for homeless dogs in our community with a specific emphasis on assisting the most vulnerable animals, who without our help, would have no other options. while in our care, they are…
Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.
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…
Lincoln park zoo is dedicated to connecting people with nature by providing a free, family-oriented wildlife experience in the heart of chicago and by advancing the highest quality of animal care, horticulture, education, science and…
To inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.
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.
The GI Research Foundation works to treat, prevent, and cure digestive diseases. In collaboration with the physicians and scientists at the University of Chicago Digestive Diseases Center, we fund innovative clinical and laboratory…
National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…
The mission of the racine zoological society is to foster an enlightening and affordable wildlife experience that improves the bond between people and nature. the society will provide for the recreation and education of the people, the…
The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…
Trusted journalism, inspiring stories and lifelong learning.
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…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Canine Companions for Independence Inc and the most unlike its peers is Outrider Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.
Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.
Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 18% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.9% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.
Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.
96 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 96 of the 180 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds WINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC ↗
- Who funds PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DENVER ↗
- Who funds TOUCHED BY AN ANIMAL ↗
- Who funds GIVEDIRECTLY INC ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HEADLINE CLUB FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education ↗
- Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds LITERATURE FOR ALL OF US ↗
- Who funds Injustice Watch NFP ↗
- Who funds EVANSTON ROUNDTABLE MEDIA NFP ↗
- Who funds EVANSTON HISTORY CENTER ↗
- Who funds FIDO INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ROBERT CROWN CENTER ↗
- Who funds LAKE FOREST ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds ROSIE'S SOUTHSIDE ANIMAL SHELTER INC ↗
- Who funds SPAY NEUTER SERVICES OF INDIANA ↗
- Who funds INDY NEIGHBORHOOD CATS INC ↗
- Who funds CATS HAVEN LTD ↗
- Who funds Exotic Feline Rescue Center ↗
- Who funds MUSIC INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds URBAN INITIATIVES INC ↗
- Who funds OLD NORTHSIDE FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds OINKING ACRES FARM RESCUE & SANCTUARY INC ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Lilly Endowment Inc · Elizabeth Beidler Tisdahl Foundation · Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation · Tawani Charitable Distribution Fund · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Northwestern University
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization The Howard S Dubin Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Howard S Dubin Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Howard S Dubin 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.