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The Livingstone Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Livingstone Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$8k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$6k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$41kYouth Development$33kEducation$13kMembership Benefit$10kArts & Culture$7kPublic Safety & Disaster$2kFood & Nutrition$1kRecreation & Sports$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,030
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION$5,700
CHICAGOLAND PRIVATE EQUITY HOCKEY CHARITIES$1,030
LET'S WIN PANCREATIC CANCER$1,000
GOLF FIGHTS CANCER$525
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 (FY18–18, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ATI FOUNDATION: $10k → 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.
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.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$69k · 6 repeat orgs$39k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +58% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
13

Total granted

$69k
$37k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+58%
+36%

Still filing today

67%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesMembership BenefitPhilanthropyOther
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

  • NK
    NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS
    4× · 2018–2023 · $22k · revenue +55%
  • BI
    BUILD INC
    4× · 2017–2022 · $18k · revenue +795%
  • AS
    ALL STARS PROJECT INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $9k · revenue +58%

Funded once

  • AF
    ATI FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue -84%
  • C1
    CHP 11-99 FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +36%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Incgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +43%
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
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
2
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
3
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
4
The Kidney Cancer Association

The kidney cancer association is a global community dedicated to serving and empowering patients, and leading change through advocacy, research, and education in order to be the universal leader in finding the cure for kidney cancer.

Health
5
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
6
Pkd Foundation

We give hope. we fund research, advocate for patients, and build a community for all impacted by pkd.

—
7
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
8
American Kidney Fund Inc

The mission of the american kidney fund is to fight kidney disease and help people live healthier lives. founded in 1971, akf fights kidney disease on all fronts with a comprehensive scope of programs that support people across the…

—
9
Kipp Chicago Schools

The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…

Education
10
National Kidney Foundation Inc

The national kidney foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care,…

Health
11
International Pediatric Stroke Organization Inc

The international pediatric stroke organization (ipso) is bringing together leading investigators and health professionals from around the globe, and from multiple disciplines, with a common interest in childhood cerebrovascular disease.…

Health
12
The California Medical Innovations Institute Inc

The Institute is a scientific research center dedicated to conducting basic and applied research to advance the understanding of human disease and the improvement of human health. The Institute fosters an innovative research environment…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is All Stars Project Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Edible Schoolyard Project dba the Alice Waters 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

13 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. 13 of the 22 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS: $22,258 · OtherNATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF ILLINOISBUILD INC: $17,700 · OtherBUILD INCEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $11,200 · OtherEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATIONImagination Theater Inc: $6,910 · OtherImagination Theater IncLIVINGSTONE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA: $5,000 · OtherLIVINGSTONE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA+8 more: $7,080 · Other+8 moreATI FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Human ServicesATI FOUNDA…CHP 11-99 FOUNDATION: $9,730 · Membership BenefitCHP 11-99 …ALL STARS PROJECT INC: $9,440 · Arts & CultureALL STARS…+1 more: $100 · Arts & CultureAmerican Heart Association Inc: $5,000 · HealthLETS WIN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1,000 · HealthThe Edible Schoolyard Project dba The Alice Waters Institute: $1,250 · EducationCHICAGO HOPE ACADEMY: $1,000 · EducationGOLF FIGHTS CANCER INC: $525 · Philanthropy
Other$70,148Human Services$10,000Membership Benefit$9,730Arts & Culture$9,540Health$6,000Education$2,250Philanthropy$525

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 budgetNATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION OF ILLINOIS: $22,258 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBUILD INC: $17,700 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetATI FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetALL STARS PROJECT INC: $9,440 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetImagination Theater Inc: $6,910 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Edible Schoolyard Project dba The Alice Waters Institute: $1,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChicagoland Private Equity Hockey Charities: $1,030 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetLETS WIN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO HOPE ACADEMY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOLF FIGHTS CANCER INC: $525 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $100 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.

Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Charities Aid Foundat…Morgan Stanley Global…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY10.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Livingstone Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Livingstone Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%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 · 0–10%
    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.

    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 22 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 2024, released 2024. 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