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The John Buck Company Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The John Buck Company Foundation

The mission of The John Buck Company Foundation is to provide support for chicago area organizations whose programs enrich the quality of life for children and families, and have a strong emphasis on education.

$396k
Granted FY2023
15
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$142k
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.

Youth Development$1.1MEducation$1.0MHuman Services$573kArts & Culture$118kEmployment$116kPhilanthropy$55kReligion$45kInternational$19kOther$0
02FY2023 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 15 grants below total $336,647, the rows itemized in this filing. The $395,926 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $59,279 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 $10k1 grant · $10k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $185k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $142k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$373k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Distinctive Schools$142,147
Friends of the Children - Chicago$25,000
Highsight$25,000
Automotive Mentoring Group'$25,000
Chicago Jesuit Academy$15,000
Associated Colleges of Illinois$15,000
Clayco Foundation$10,000
Vocel Viewing Our Children$10,000
A Safe Haven Foundation$10,000
Enchanted Backpack$10,000
Chicago Run$10,000
Tutoring Chicago$10,000
Off the Street Club$10,000
Gads Hill Center$10,000
Global Impact Fund$9,500
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 (FY17–23, $642k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY: $250k → 14%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY: $27k → 14%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY: $15k → 14%FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN -CHICAGO: $30k → 14%FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN -CHICAGO: $26k → 14%Friends of the Children - Chicago: $25k → 14%MARYVILLE ACADEMY: $10k → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $30k → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $26k → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $25k → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $25k → 14%GADS HILL CENTER: $25k → 14%GADS HILL CENTER: $25k → 14%GADS HILL CENTER: $15k → 14%Gads Hill Center: $10k → 14%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY: $25k → 14%CHILDRENS HOME AND AID: $20k → 14%MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY: $15k → 14%CHILDRENS HOME AND AID: $10k → 14%LEAP INNOVATIONS: $8k → 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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.8M · 37 repeat orgs$290k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

37 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2023, 25 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
21

Total granted

$2.8M
$255k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+25%

Still filing today

92%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyEmploymentOther
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

  • MS
    MARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY SERVICES INC
    4× · 2017–2021 · $332k · revenue +12%
  • VV
    Vocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders
    5× · 2017–2023 · $295k · revenue +311% · 25% of their budget
  • BT
    By The Hand Club For Kids
    3× · 2017–2019 · $275k · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • BI
    BOX IT FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue -93%
  • AS
    AFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $24k · revenue +90%
  • MU
    Marquette University
    one grant, 2021 · $23k · revenue +16%
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
Students Run Chicago
Health
2
A Better Chicago

A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.

Human Services
3
Chicago Collegiate Inc

To equip all students in grades six through twelve with the academic skills, intellectual habits and character traits to succeed in the college of their choice, strenghten their communities and change the world.

Education
4
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
5
Chicago Votes

Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government,…

Civil Rights
6
The Chicago High School for the Arts

The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…

Education
7
Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers

Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers, through its Midtown Center for boys and Metro Achievement Center for girls, helps close the achievement gap for Chicago's urban youth ages eight through eighteen.

Education
8
Chicago Education Partnership

To create a school that dramatically transforms the lives of k-8 students and prepares them for success in college and in life through: the delivery of a rigorous and personalized academic program, a focus on holistic education, and the…

Education
9
Chicago Free School

Chicago Free School provides pre-kindergarten through 8th grade instruction and support activities. The faculty consists of qualified indiviuals with the appropriate education and experiende to provide students with the education that…

Education
10
Lycee Francais de Chicago Inc

The Lycee Francais de Chicago, driven by our core values of respect, responsibility and the joy of learning, empowers students to grow into active global citizens.

Education
11
Chicago Youth Programs Inc

Tutoring and mentoring programs for inner city youth.

—
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Youth Centers; the most unlike its peers is Enchanted Backpack. 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

56 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. 56 of the 61 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
54/56
Grantees still filing
41/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Youth Guidance: $248,600 · EducationYouth GuidanceDistinctive Schools of Illinois: $162,147 · EducationDistinctive Schools of Ill…WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $65,500 · EducationWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INCTHE MONTESSORI NETWORK: $45,000 · EducationTHE MONTESSORI NETWORKHIGH JUMP: $42,500 · EducationHIGH JUMPEllie Burns Foundation: $35,000 · EducationJUMPSTART FOR YOUNG CHILDREN INC: $30,000 · Education+6 more: $116,640 · Education+6 moreBy The Hand Club For Kids: $275,000 · OtherBy The Hand Club For KidsCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY: $85,000 · OtherCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMYBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $65,000 · OtherBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF M…HOPE IGNITES CHICAGO: $40,000 · OtherBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC: $35,000 · OtherTHE RUTH PAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · OtherHIGHSIGHT: $58,000 · OtherHIGHSIGHTMETROSQUASH NFP: $45,000 · OtherMETROSQUASH NFP+15 more: $189,000 · Other+15 moreMARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY SERVICES INC: $332,000 · Human ServicesMARILLAC ST VINCENT FAM…ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $105,899 · Human ServicesERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSEFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO: $81,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN…GADS HILL CENTER: $75,000 · Human ServicesGADS HILL CENTERCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL: $30,000 · Human Services+2 more: $18,000 · Human ServicesVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders: $295,000 · Youth DevelopmentVocel Viewing our Ch…Chicago Youth Centers: $171,374 · Youth DevelopmentChicago Youth Center…OFF THE STREET CLUB: $62,000 · Youth DevelopmentOFF THE STREET CLUBHorizons for Youth: $30,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $8,000 · Youth DevelopmentSTEP UP WOMEN'S NETWORK: $55,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC WILL INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureTUTORING CHICAGO: $33,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $17,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO DANCE INSTITUTE: $16,000 · Arts & CultureArts Alive 45 Inc: $15,000 · Arts & CultureMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureAUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC: $85,000 · EmploymentINNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION: $8,000 · EmploymentBOX IT FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyClayco Foundation: $20,000 · PhilanthropyChicago Run: $20,000 · PhilanthropyENCHANTED BACKPACK: $10,000 · Philanthropy
Education$745,387Other$822,000Human Services$641,899Youth Development$566,374Arts & Culture$186,000Employment$93,000Philanthropy$75,000

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 budgetMARILLAC ST VINCENT FAMILY SERVICES INC: $332,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetVocel Viewing our Children as Emerging Leaders: $295,000 over 5y, 25% of budgetBy The Hand Club For Kids: $275,000 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetYouth Guidance: $248,600 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetChicago Youth Centers: $171,374 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetDistinctive Schools of Illinois: $162,147 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $105,899 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAUTOMOTIVE MENTORING GROUP INC: $85,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN - CHICAGO: $81,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetGADS HILL CENTER: $75,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $65,500 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetBIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $65,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetOFF THE STREET CLUB: $62,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetHIGHSIGHT: $58,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetSTEP UP WOMEN'S NETWORK: $55,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHE MONTESSORI NETWORK: $45,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMETROSQUASH NFP: $45,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHIGH JUMP: $42,500 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetMUSIC WILL INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetEllie Burns Foundation: $35,000 over 3y, 23% of budgetTUTORING CHICAGO: $33,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetTHE RUTH PAGE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetJUMPSTART FOR YOUNG CHILDREN INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHorizons for Youth: $30,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRYAN BANKS ACADEMY: $25,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetBOX IT FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC: $23,600 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYEAR UP INC: $23,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMarquette University: $22,540 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROVIDENCE ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL CORPORATION: $22,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetClayco Foundation: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetChicago Run: $20,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetGLOBAL IMPACT FUND: $19,000 over 2y, 25% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $17,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCHICAGO DANCE INSTITUTE: $16,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetAssociated Colleges of Illinois Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetA SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BOTTOM LINE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENCHANTED BACKPACK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMaryville Academy: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHEPHZIBAH CHILDREN'S ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTH & OPPORTUNITY UNITED INC: $8,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSpecial Children's Charities: $8,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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…United Way of Metropo…John D and Catherine …Imc Chicago Charitabl…Robert R McCormick Fo…Polk Bros Foundation …Cme Group FoundationJewish Federation of …Helen V Brach Foundat…Circle of Service Fou…Arthur J Gallagher Fo…WP & HB White Foundat…
The Chicago Community TrustIL42.8× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Imc Chicago Charitable Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Cme Group Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Helen V Brach Foundation · Circle of Service Foundation · Arthur J Gallagher Foundation · WP & HB White 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 John Buck Company Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John Buck Company Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • The Bottom Line Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 John Buck Company Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The John Buck Company 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 61 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.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $36k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on John Buck Company’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