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The John P Calamos Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The John P Calamos 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.

$1000k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$650k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$13MArts & Culture$2.9MReligion$484kPublic Benefit$301kCommunity Improvement$200kInternational$175kHealth$39kHuman Services$36kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $300k
  • $250k+1 grant · $650k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$57M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL HELLENIC MUSEUM$650,000
ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH$100,000
ST NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH$100,000
WASHINGTON OXI DAY FOUNDATION$50,000
HELLENIC INITIATIVE INC$50,000
LOUKOUMI MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOUNDATION$25,000
GIFT OF ADOPTION$10,000
ST IAKOVOS RETREAT CENTER$5,000
ORDER OF ST ANDREW$4,000
HELLENIC AMERICAN ACADEMY$2,500
HILLSDALE COLLEGE$2,000
TURNING POINT USA$1,000
HERITAGE FOUNDATION$100
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 (FY22–22, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%TURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $1k → 7%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
CA
DC
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 98% of The John P Calamos Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 94% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 2%.

The John P Calamos Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
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.
$17M · 11 repeat orgs$596k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
25

Total granted

$17M
$558k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+15%

Still filing today

55%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $39k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyFood & NutritionInternationalOther
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

  • II
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    6× · 2018–2024 · $13M · revenue +28%
  • WO
    Washington Oxi Day Foundation
    6× · 2020–2025 · $300k · revenue +20%
  • HI
    HELLENIC INITIATIVE INC
    4× · 2021–2025 · $150k · revenue +1%

Funded once

  • GC
    GOFUNDME CHARITY
    one grant, 2020 · $200k
  • CI
    CROSSROAD INSTITUTE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $80k · revenue -73%
  • YC
    YORKVILLE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · 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
The American College of Greece

To add distinctive and sustainable value to our students as well as greece, american education, hellenic heritage, and the global community through transformative teaching, scholarship, and service.

International
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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
4
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
5
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
6
Saint Xavier University

Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…

Education
7
Eastern University

Eastern university is a diverse, christ-centered community preparing graduates to impact the world through faith, reason, and justice.

Education
8
George Fox University

George fox university, a christ centered community, prepares students spiritually, academically, and professionally to think with clarity, act with integrity, and serve with passion.

Education
9
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
10
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
11
American Press Institute Inc

American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a…

Arts & Culture
12
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Yorkville Christian High School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

25 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. 25 of the 42 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/25
Grantees still filing
16/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Illinois Institute of Technology: $13,075,000 · EducationIllinois Institute of Technology+5 more: $184,000 · EducationNational Hellenic Museum: $2,837,886 · Arts & CultureNational Hellenic Mu…Washington Oxi Day Foundation: $300,000 · Arts & CultureWashington Oxi Day F…+3 more: $22,000 · Arts & CultureGOFUNDME CHARITY: $200,000 · OtherST NICHOLAS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH: $125,000 · OtherGREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH THE ASSUMPTION OF CHICAGO AND WESTERN: $120,000 · OtherRONALD MCDONALD HC CNI: $25,000 · OtherORDER OF ST ANDREW THE APOSTLE INC: $25,000 · OtherORDER OF ST ANDREW: $23,000 · Other+21 more: $126,100 · OtherHELLENIC INITIATIVE INC: $150,000 · InternationalEcumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Foundation Inc: $100,000 · ReligionCAREER & NETWORKING CENTER: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE LOUKOUMI MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Youth Development
Education$13,259,000Arts & Culture$3,159,886Other$644,100International$150,000Religion$100,000Philanthropy$25,000Youth Development$25,000

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 budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $13,075,000 over 6y, 2.8% of budgetNational Hellenic Museum: $2,837,886 over 8y, 53% of budgetWashington Oxi Day Foundation: $300,000 over 6y, 13% of budgetHELLENIC INITIATIVE INC: $150,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetEcumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Foundation Inc: $100,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetCROSSROAD INSTITUTE INC: $80,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetYORKVILLE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL: $50,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetNaperville Education Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetCAREER & NETWORKING CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetINDIAN PRAIRIE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetNAPERVILLE COMMUNITY TELEVISION: $15,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetDistinguished Flying Cross Society: $15,000 over 1y, 9.5% of budgetAURORA AREA INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNAPERVILLE AREA HUMANE SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKIDS GOLF FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetHIPPOCRATIC CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetJULIE AND MICHAEL TRACY FAMILY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUNITING VOICES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEAA AVIATION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTURNING POINTE AUTISM FOUNDATION: $1,000 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 loosely connected circle, clustered around a few shared anchors.

Buhler Kapsalis Famil…Metropoulos Family Fo…The George and Judy M…The Dupage Community …Gianaras FoundationNeil & Ginny Gerald F…Hellenic FoundationLibra Global Philanth…The James & Theodore …Naperville Rotary Cha…Community Foundation …Arthur J Gallagher Fo…
Buhler Kapsalis Family FoundationWI17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 6 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Buhler Kapsalis Family Foundation · Metropoulos Family Foundation · The George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation II · The Dupage Community Foundation · Gianaras Foundation · Neil & Ginny Gerald Family Foundation · Hellenic Foundation · Libra Global Philanthropies Foundation Inc · The James & Theodore Pedas Family Foundation Inc · Naperville Rotary Charities Inc · Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley · Arthur J Gallagher 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 P Calamos Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John P Calamos Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s 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 P Calamos Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The John P Calamos 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 42 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 John P Calamos’ 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