· Private foundation
The Knowles 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k1 grant · $5k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $212k
- $50k–250k16 grants · $1.2M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $187,500 |
| GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE INC | $100,000 |
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $100,000 |
| FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER | $80,000 |
| RAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION | $78,500 |
| CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE CENTER | $75,000 |
| LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER | $75,000 |
| ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL | $75,000 |
| ADLER PLANETARIUM | $70,000 |
| MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC | $68,000 |
| GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY | $60,000 |
| RAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION | $50,000 |
| HINSDALE JUNIOR WOMANS CLUB | $50,000 |
| THE FIELD MUSEUM | $50,000 |
| MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.
22 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MSMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC6× · 2020–2025 · $959k · revenue ×16
- LOLyric Opera of Chicago6× · 2020–2025 · $575k · revenue +34%
- RGRAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES5× · 2020–2025 · $544k · revenue +22%
Funded once
- TSTHE SERVICE CLUB OF CHICAGOone grant, 2020 · $15k · revenue +9%
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.
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.
To inspire conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and nature.
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University ("The Auditorium"), an Illinois not-for-profit corporation, is committed to presenting the finest in international, cultural, community and educational programming to Chicago and to the…
We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.
The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.
With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at its core, the mission of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association is to enrich, inspire and transform lives through music, community engagement and education - locally, nationally and…
The Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, programs, digital resources, and special events, the Museum connects people to Chicago's history…
The driehaus museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. its permanent collection and temporary…
The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
How this is measured
20 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. 20 of the 23 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC ↗
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds RAY GRAHAM ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ↗
- Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE CHICAGO RIVER ↗
- Who funds Chicago Architecture Foundation ↗
- Who funds FOUNDATION FOR HEARING AND SPEECH RESOURCES ↗
- Who funds THE ADLER PLANETARIUM ↗
- Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
- Who funds Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds SHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds HINSDALE JUNIOR WOMAN'S CLUB ↗
- Who funds ALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Special Children's Charities ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds THE SERVICE CLUB OF CHICAGO ↗
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: National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Knowles Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Knowles Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Knowles Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Knowles 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.
Play a game based on Knowles’ filings →