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· Private foundation

The John R Houlsby Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$153k
Granted FY2021
15
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$19k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2021.

Human Services$304kHealth$225kHousing & Shelter$192kEducation$189kCrime & Legal$152kFood & Nutrition$107kArts & Culture$104kPhilanthropy$100kOther$0
02FY2021 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2021

  • Under $10k4 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $119k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE$19,000
CASA OF COOK COUNTY$10,000
CASA OF LAKE COUNTY$10,000
COMMUNITY HEALTH$10,000
FRATERNITE NOTRE DAME$10,000
NEW MOMS$10,000
SARAH'S CIRCLE$10,000
ALMOST HOME KIDS$10,000
BREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC$10,000
HOUSING OPP & MAINTENANCE FOR THE ELDERLY$10,000
SKYART$10,000
MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE$9,000
GLENWOOD ACADEMY$9,000
NEWROOT LEARNING INSTITUTE$9,000
LAKEVIEW PANTRY$7,000
02The need
03

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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–21, $424k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CHRISTIAN OUTREACH OF LUTHERANS: $10k → 8%SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $20k → 14%SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $19k → 14%CHRISTIAN OUTREACH OF LUTHERANS: $5k → 8%JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $10k → 14%JUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION: $10k → 14%INFANT WELFARE SOCIETY OF EVANSTON INC: $10k → 14%REVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING: $20k → 14%SARAH'S INN: $30k → 14%CARE FOR REAL: $30k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $20k → 14%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $15k → 14%CARE FOR REAL: $5k → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $35k → 14%ALMOST HOME KIDS: $20k → 14%ALMOST HOME KIDS: $15k → 14%ALMOST HOME KIDS: $10k → 14%CONCORDIA PLACE: $20k → 14%CONCORDIA PLACE: $20k → 14%CONNECTIONS FOR ABUSED WOMEN & THEIR CHILDREN: $10k → 14%ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF CHICAGO: $10k → 14%ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF CHICAGO: $5k → 14%SARAH'S INN: $10k → 14%TEEN LIVING PROGRAMS: $10k → 14%OPEN HEART MAGIC: $10k → 14%NEW MOMS: $35k → 14%NEW MOMS: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

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.

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.

04

Where the work is directed

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

About 7% of The John R Houlsby Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 94% of the giving stays in IL; read by stated purpose it is 91% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

The John R Houlsby Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

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 foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

03Your edge
repeat funding

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.

74%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.1M · 30 repeat orgs$406k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +106% since the first grant, against +51% for the ones you funded once.

30 repeat relationships — 13 still active in FY2021, 17 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
26

Total granted

$1.1M
$387k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+106%
+51%

Still filing today

80%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21
Human ServicesEducationHousing & ShelterCrime & LegalEmploymentCivil RightsOther

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

  • NH
    NOURISHING HOPE
    3× · 2017–2021 · $57k · revenue +307%
  • SC
    SARAH'S CIRCLE
    3× · 2017–2021 · $55k · revenue +261%
  • BU
    BREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +92%

Funded once

  • EN
    ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSEgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $35k · revenue +54%
  • NL
    NORTH LAWNDALE EMPLOYMENT NETWORKgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +164%
  • SA
    Saint Anthony Hospitalgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +25%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

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.

1
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
2
Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness

Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness (CCH) builds community power and advances racial equity through organizing, advocacy, legal assistance, and education to prevent and end homelessness because housing is a human right.

Housing & Shelter
3
Alternatives Inc

Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and…

Health
4
Child Link Inc

Child Link provides foster care, family counseling, and therapy services to Chicago area adolescents who are at risk of homelessness. Child Link also refers adolescents to other agencies that are able to provide additional resources and…

Human Services
5
Live Free Chicago

Live Free Illinois is a statewide organization partnering with over 120 congregations and directly impacted individuals to build safer more equitable communities across Illinois. Operating at the intersection of criminal justice reform and…

—
6
Childrens Advocacy Center of East Central Illinois

To assist children who have been victims of abuse

Crime & Legal
7
Chicago Heightening Opportunity and Potential for

Providing academic support to children experiencing homelessness in Chicago and providing resources and services to families experiencing homelessness in Chicago.

Education
8
Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill

Founded in 1883, brightpoint (formerly known as children's home & aid) is a leading statewide organization supporting families so children can thrive.

Human Services
9
Center for Housing and Health

Chh honors every person's right to a home and health care, by bridging the housing and health care systems, to improve the lives of chicagoans experiencing homelessness.

Housing & Shelter
10
Lakeside Community Committee

To enhance the quality of life for children and families by inspiring hope and empowerment and growth within all whom we serve.

Human Services
11
The Children's Place Association

To build a secure and hopeful today so children facing health issues and poverty succeed tomorrow.

Human Services
12
Onward Neighborhood House

We open doors to improve lives and uplift communities through educational, economic and support services.

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Moms Inc and the most unlike its peers is Open Heart Magic. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 42 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%6%10–20yr17%38%20–35yr15%23%35–55yr16%32%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%7%10–20yr17%34%20–35yr15%25%35–55yr16%34%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 4% lost their exemption, against 16% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%
2/50
the rest of the field
16%
4,998/31,460

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.

05the grantee network

47 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. 47 of the 59 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/47
Grantees still filing
39/47
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

NOURISHING HOPE — $57,000 · OtherNOURISHING HOPEBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC — $50,000 · OtherBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INCCOMMUNITY HEALTH — $50,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY HEALTHFRATERNITE NOTRE DAME INC — $42,500 · OtherFRATERNITE NOTRE DAME INCOUR LADY OF TEPEYAC SCHOOL — $40,000 · OtherOUR LADY OF TEPEYAC SCHOOLCHICAGO JESUIT ACADEMY — $37,500 · OtherBUILD INC — $30,000 · OtherSOUTH SHORE DRILL TEAM — $25,000 · OtherThe Cara Program — $30,000 · OtherNORTH LAWNDALE EMPLOYMENT NETWORK — $25,000 · OtherCASA LAKE COUNTY INC — $50,000 · OtherCASA LAKE COUNTY INCOLD IRVING PARK COMMUNITY CLINIC — $30,000 · OtherSaint Anthony Hospital — $25,000 · OtherSt Leonard's Ministries — $45,000 · OtherSt Leonard's MinistriesBETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC — $25,000 · Other+14 more — $180,060 · Other+14 moreAlmost Home Kids — $45,000 · Human ServicesAlmost Home KidsNEW MOMS INC — $45,000 · Human ServicesNEW MOMS INCCONCORDIA PLACE — $40,000 · Human ServicesCONCORDIA PLACESARAH'S INN — $40,000 · Human ServicesSARAH'S INNSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE — $39,000 · Human ServicesSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN AL…ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $35,000 · Human ServicesERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSETHE NIGHT MINISTRY — $35,000 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT MINISTRYCARE FOR REAL — $35,000 · Human ServicesCARE FOR REALJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION — $20,000 · Human ServicesREVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING — $20,000 · Human ServicesASSOCIATION HOUSE OF CHICAGO — $15,000 · Human ServicesCOOL MINISTRIES — $15,000 · Human Services+4 more — $40,000 · Human Services+4 moreBERRIEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 · PhilanthropyCOURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES OF COOK COUNTY — $40,000 · Crime & LegalCHICAGO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER — $30,000 · Crime & LegalLaw Center for Better Housing — $30,000 · Crime & LegalGLENWOOD ACADEMY — $49,000 · EducationSAN MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO SCHOOL INC — $15,000 · EducationNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREPARATORY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL INC — $15,000 · EducationHIGH JUMP — $10,000 · EducationNEWROOT LEARNING INSTITUTE F/K/A UMOJA STUDENT DEVELOPMENT CORP — $9,000 · EducationMUSIC OF THE BAROQUE — $49,000 · Arts & CultureSkyArt NFP — $45,000 · Arts & CultureSARAH'S CIRCLE — $55,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE BOULEVARD OF CHICAGO INC — $12,000 · Housing & ShelterALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY — $10,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$742,060Human Services$424,000Philanthropy$100,000Crime & Legal$100,000Education$98,000Arts & Culture$94,000Housing & Shelter$77,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBERRIEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE — $57,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetSARAH'S CIRCLE — $55,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC — $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCASA LAKE COUNTY INC — $50,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGLENWOOD ACADEMY — $49,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMUSIC OF THE BAROQUE — $49,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetSt Leonard's Ministries — $45,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSkyArt NFP — $45,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetAlmost Home Kids — $45,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetNEW MOMS INC — $45,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCONCORDIA PLACE — $40,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSARAH'S INN — $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetCOURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES OF COOK COUNTY — $40,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE — $39,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $35,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY — $35,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCARE FOR REAL — $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBUILD INC — $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe Cara Program — $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER — $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLaw Center for Better Housing — $30,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetOLD IRVING PARK COMMUNITY CLINIC — $30,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetNORTH LAWNDALE EMPLOYMENT NETWORK — $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSaint Anthony Hospital — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetILLINOIS COUNCIL AGAINST HANDGUN VIOLENCE — $20,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetJUVENILE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION — $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetST JAMES CATHEDRAL COUNSELING CTR — $20,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetREVIVE CENTER FOR HOUSING AND HEALING — $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetASSOCIATION HOUSE OF CHICAGO — $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOOL MINISTRIES — $15,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetSAN MIGUEL FEBRES CORDERO SCHOOL INC — $15,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNORTH LAWNDALE COLLEGE PREPARATORY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BOULEVARD OF CHICAGO INC — $12,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCASA OF RIVER VALLEY — $12,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetIGNITE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHOUSING OPPORTUNITIES AND MAINTENANCE FOR THE ELDERLY INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHIGH JUMP — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetINNER-CITY COMPUTER STARS FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetALL CHICAGO MAKING HOMELESSNESS HISTORY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOUNDATIONS OF MUSIC — $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetOPEN HEART MAGIC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budget
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.

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.

The Chicago Community…Polk Bros Foundation …Circle of Service Fou…United Way of Metropo…Blowitz-Ridgeway Foun…George M Eisenberg Fo…Helen V Brach Foundat…Robert R McCormick Fo…Arie and Ida Crown Me…Dr Scholl FoundationAbbVie FoundationPatrick and Anna M Cu…
The Chicago Community TrustIL41.3× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Circle of Service Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Blowitz-Ridgeway Foundation · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · Helen V Brach Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Dr Scholl Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Patrick and Anna M Cudahy Fund

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 John R Houlsby 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.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s 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
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 59 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines