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The John D Brubaker Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The John D Brubaker 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.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$500k
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$1.2MEnvironment$950kHealth$508kYouth Development$445kCommunity Improvement$20kArts & Culture$10kPhilanthropy$5k
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $495k
  • $250k+2 grants · $825k
$200,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$31M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE MINDHAVEN NFP$500,000
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOUNDATION$325,000
ROCKFORD PROMISE$200,000
NATURAL LAND INSTITUTE$150,000
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF ROCKFORD$145,000
LORENZOS HOUSE$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 (FY22–25, $8k) 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%LORENZOS HOUSE: $5k → 14%LORENZO'S HOUSE: $3k → 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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 5 repeat orgs$818k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against -14% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
6

Total granted

$2.3M
$318k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
-14%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationEnvironmentPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureHuman ServicesOther
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

  • NL
    NATURAL LAND INSTITUTE
    6× · 2020–2025 · $900k · revenue +230%
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUB ASSOCIATION OF ROCKFORD
    3× · 2023–2025 · $445k · revenue +9%
  • RP
    ROCKFORD PROMISE
    2× · 2024–2025 · $401k · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • LC
    LITCHFIELD CUSD #12
    one grant, 2023 · $230k
  • RP
    ROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · revenue 0%
  • RA
    ROCKFORD AREA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue -30%
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
Rockford Community Investment Fund

To support housing and community development ventures

Community Improvement
2
Rockford University

To educate men & women to lead responsible lives by means of a curriculum grounded in liberal arts learning and complemented and extended by professional and practical experience, through the total academic and co-curricular experience,…

Education
3
Rockford Area Strategic Initiatives

The primary role of the rockford area strategic initiative is to enhance education, commerce, trade and economic development in the rockford region

Community Improvement
4
The Rockford Institute

To provide analysis and commentary on cultural, economic, political, and educational issues through a published monthly opinion magazine and to operate continuing adult educational conferences in american and european literature and…

—
5
Gastro Intestinal Research Foundation Inc

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…

Health
6
Geneva Library Foundation

Raise funds and maintain and endowment to support the mission of the Geneva Public Library of Geneva IL

Education
7
Transform Rockford
Community Improvement
8
Swedish Historical Society of Rockford

Preservation of swedish historical structure, culture and artifacts through the operations of a museum and cultural center.

Arts & Culture
9
Racine Zoological Society Inc

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…

Animals
10
Rockford Day Nursery

It is the mission of this corporation to provide quality care for children between the ages of six weeks and twelve years whose parents are employed or in training.

Human Services
11
Boys & Girls Club Foundation

To provide behavior guidance and promote the health, social, educational, vocational and character development of boy and girls in rockford, illinois and its surrounding communities by supporting the boys and girls club of rockford.

Youth Development
12
Rockford Area Historical Society

Inspire communitys interest in the past

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midway Village & Museum Center; the most unlike its peers is Natural Land Institute. 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

10 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. 10 of the 12 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)
10/10
Grantees still filing
5/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MINDHAVEN NFP: $500,000 · OtherMINDHAVEN NFPBOYS & GIRLS CLUB ASSOCIATION OF ROCKFORD: $445,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUB ASSOCIATION OF ROCKFORDLITCHFIELD CUSD #12: $230,000 · OtherLITCHFIELD CUSD #12University of Illinois Foundation: $550,000 · EducationUniversity of Illinois FoundationROCKFORD PROMISE: $400,800 · EducationROCKFORD PROMISE+1 more: $2,500 · EducationNATURAL LAND INSTITUTE: $900,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL LAND INSTITUTEROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EnvironmentROCKFORD AREA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Community ImprovementMIDWAY VILLAGE & MUSEUM CENTER: $10,000 · Arts & CultureLORENZO'S HOUSE: $7,500 · Human ServicesHebrew Senior Life Inc: $5,000 · Philanthropy
Other$1,175,000Education$953,300Environment$950,000Community Improvement$20,000Arts & Culture$10,000Human Services$7,500Philanthropy$5,000

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 budgetNATURAL LAND INSTITUTE: $900,000 over 6y, 12% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $550,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB ASSOCIATION OF ROCKFORD: $445,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetROCKFORD PROMISE: $400,800 over 2y, 7.3% of budgetROCKFORD PARK DISTRICT FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetROCKFORD AREA CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetMIDWAY VILLAGE & MUSEUM CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLORENZO'S HOUSE: $7,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHebrew Senior Life Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY FUND INC: $2,500 over 1y, 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.

Community Foundation …Amended and Restated …The David & Colleen A…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Community Foundation of Northern ILIL17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Northern IL · Amended and Restated Brubaker Charitable Trust · The David & Colleen Anderson Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 John D Brubaker Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John D Brubaker Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Hebrew Senior Life Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get 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 · 0–15%
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 D Brubaker Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The John D Brubaker 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 12 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

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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