Illinois · Private foundation
The Kensington Square 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.
- $1.1M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 24
- Grants FY2025
- 27
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 22%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $25,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $275,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 4 to 38
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 4
- Total assets, FY2025
- $1.3M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 22% of the organizations The Kensington Square Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 9% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $110k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 24 | $1.1M | 0% |
| FY2024 | 27 | $1.2M | 22% |
| FY2023 | 38 | $1.5M | 13% |
| FY2022 | 26 | $2.2M | 23% |
| FY2021 | 13 | $1.7M | 38% |
| FY2020 | 10 | $1.2M | 30% |
| FY2019 | 4 | $207k | 50% |
| FY2018 | 16 | $902k | 44% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristo Rey Jesuit High School | $1,035,000 | 5 | n/a |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $540,000 | 8 | 1% |
| Court Theatre Fund | $500,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Phoenix Symphony Association | $410,000 | 2 | 5% |
| Marquette University | $375,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Old St Patricks Church | $340,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Our Lady of Tepeyac High School | $250,000 | 5 | n/a |
| The Cara Program | $240,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University | $157,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Steep Theatre | $122,000 | 4 | 29% |
Show all 38 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristo Rey Jesuit High School | $1,035,000 | 5 | n/a |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $540,000 | 8 | 1% |
| Court Theatre Fund | $500,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Phoenix Symphony Association | $410,000 | 2 | 5% |
| Marquette University | $375,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Old St Patricks Church | $340,000 | 7 | n/a |
| Our Lady of Tepeyac High School | $250,000 | 5 | n/a |
| The Cara Program | $240,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University | $157,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Steep Theatre | $122,000 | 4 | 29% |
| Children at the Crossroads Foundation | $120,000 | 6 | 5% |
| Yale University | $110,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Ucan | $110,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Chicago Architecture Foundation | $107,500 | 2 | 0% |
| Chicago Theatre Group Inc | $105,000 | 5 | 0% |
| La Rabida Children's Hospital | $105,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School | $100,000 | 4 | n/a |
| The Heard Museum | $85,000 | 5 | 0% |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | $72,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago | $65,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Grant Park Orchestral Association | $55,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Church of Our Savior | $50,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $40,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Writers Theatre Inc | $35,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Rush University Medical Center | $30,000 | 2 | 0% |
| GoodCity NFP | $25,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Hospice of the Valley | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| St Mary's Food Bank Alliance | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Yale University | $20,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Phoenix Art Museum | $15,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Franciscan Renewal Center Inc | $15,000 | 3 | n/a |
| Chicago History Museum | $10,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Angelman Syndrome Foundation Inc | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| American Indian College Fund | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| House of the Good Shepherd | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Near North Montessori School | $1,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 18 recipients with no EIN on record ($5.2M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Kensington Square Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 27 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · AbbVie Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Endowment Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Kensington Square Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Kensington Square 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.
About The Kensington Square Foundation
- How much does The Kensington Square Foundation give?
- The Kensington Square Foundation reported 24 grants totaling $1,117,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 4 and 38 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Kensington Square Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (29%), Philanthropy (25%), Education (21%).
- Who are The Kensington Square Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Cristo Rey Jesuit High School ($1.0M), Steppenwolf Theatre Company ($540k), Court Theatre Fund ($500k).
- Does The Kensington Square Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 22% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Kensington Square Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Kensington Square Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc.
- Where is The Kensington Square Foundation based?
- The Kensington Square Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Kensington Square’s filings →