Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

The Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C

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.

$1.0M
Granted FY2023
69
Grants FY2023
16
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2023.

Arts & Culture$625kCivil Rights$588kHealth$410kPhilanthropy$303kEducation$255kCommunity Improvement$177kEnvironment$172kCrime & Legal$124kOther$0
02FY2023 · 69 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k16 grants · $85k
  • $10k–50k51 grants · $815k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
16
States reached
$429k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DEEPLY ROOTED PRODUCTIONS INC$50,000
MUSICA FRANKLIN INC$50,000
ABORTION CARE NETWORK$33,000
NDN COLLECTIVE INC$31,000
THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST$30,000
HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO INC$25,000
HEADWATERS FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE$25,000
BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION$25,000
WALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS$25,000
LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND$21,000
REFUGEEONE$21,000
PARK NICOLLET FOUNDATION$21,000
MICHAEL J FOX FDN FOR PARKINSONS RESEARCH$21,000
THE YOUNG CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT CHILDRENS$21,000
SHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW$21,000
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 (FY21–23, $115k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SISTER SONG INC: $20k → 13%SISTER SONG INC: $20k → 13%UJAMAA PLACE: $5k → 14%TIDES CENTER: $5k → 10%Ujamaa Place: $5k → 14%UJAMAA PLACE: $5k → 14%CENTER ON HALSTED: $15k → 14%CENTER ON HALSTED: $15k → 14%BRAVE SPACE ALLIANCE: $15k → 14%SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER: $5k → 14%SEGUNDO RUIZ BELVIS CULTURAL CENTER: $5k → 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.

Which US states your grants reach

VT
MT
MN
IL
NY
MA
SD
IN
OH
PA
CA
MO
VA
TN
NC
DC
GA

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.

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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.4M · 60 repeat orgs$358k to everyone else

60 repeat relationships — 53 still active in FY2023, 7 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

60
11

Total granted

$2.4M
$246k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+21%

Still filing today

95%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $112k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesEnvironmentPhilanthropyOther

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

  • Deeply Rooted Productions Inc
    3× · 2021–2023 · $120k · revenue +16%
  • PP
    Planned Parenthood of Illinois
    3× · 2021–2023 · $80k · revenue +52%
  • BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION
    3× · 2021–2023 · $75k · revenue +32%

Funded once

  • MI
    MULTI-ARTS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +31% · 41% of their budget
  • TG
    TRANSGENDER GENDER-VARIANT & INTERSEX JUSTICE PROJECT ICO JUSTICE NOW
    one grant, 2021 · $49k
  • CC
    Columbia College Chicago
    one grant, 2021 · $45k · revenue +21%

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
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
2
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
3
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
4
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
5
Mixed Blood Theatre Company

Mixed Blood Theatre Company uses theater to disrupt injustice. We are a social justice organization catalyzing action and change through art. Our work is guided by deep community engagement and rooted in radical hospitality.

—
6
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
7
Chicago United

To achieve parity in economic opportunity for people of color by advancing multiracial leadership in corporate governance, expanding the talent pipline for executive-level management, and growing minority businesses.

Philanthropy
8
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
9
Ampt Advancing Nonprofits

Advancing Nonprofits is committed to strengthening the organizational health and support long-term development of small nonprofits on Chicagos west and south sides while prioritizing Black- and Latine-led community organizations.…

Community Improvement
10
Coop Careers Inc

Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

Education
11
Stages

Stages makes plays and tells stories that invite everyone to live more deeply and love more boldly.

Arts & Culture
12
African Development Center

Grow businesses, build wealth and increase reinvestement in the african communities of minnesota

Human Services

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Thousand Currents and the most unlike its peers is National Wildlife Federation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyDance Arts OrganizationsImmigrant Worker SupportLgbtq+ Community SupportAffordable Housing Developm…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Community College Foundatio…Environmental Conservation …Community Arts CentersOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…Policy Research and AdvocacyHealth Access Advocacy and …Pregnancy Support ServicesCommunity Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%1%<5yr14%8%5–10yr19%20%10–20yr16%28%20–35yr13%25%35–55yr16%18%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%1%<5yr14%10%5–10yr19%17%10–20yr16%23%20–35yr13%29%35–55yr16%20%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/83
the rest of the field
13%
240,395/1,819,482

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.

04the grantee network

80 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. 80 of the 87 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
79/80
Grantees still filing
46/80
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

PARK NICOLLET FOUNDATION — $99,000 · OtherPARK NICOLLET FOUNDATIONCROSSROADS FUND INC — $84,000 · OtherCROSSROADS FUND INCTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $80,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYHEADWATERS FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE — $75,000 · OtherHEADWATERS FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICEAction Center on Race and the Economy — $73,000 · OtherAction Center on Race and the EconomyTRANSGENDER GENDER-VARIANT & INTERSEX JUSTICE PROJECT ICO JUSTICE NOW — $49,333 · OtherTRANSGENDER GENDERVARIANT INTERSEX JUSTI — $47,000 · OtherMISSOURI JOBS WITH JUSTICE — $45,000 · OtherSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW — $73,000 · OtherSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAWACHIEVE TWIN CITIES — $60,000 · Other+32 more — $663,000 · Other+32 moreDeeply Rooted Productions Inc — $120,000 · Arts & CultureDeeply Rooted Product…MUSICA FRANKLIN INC — $100,000 · Arts & CultureMUSICA FRANKLIN INCHUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO — $65,000 · Arts & CultureHUBBARD STREET DANCE …MULTI-ARTS INC — $50,000 · Arts & CultureMULTI-ARTS INCLINKS HALL INC — $35,000 · Arts & CultureLINKS HALL INCMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC — $30,000 · Arts & CultureHigh Concept Laboratories — $30,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $30,000 · Arts & CultureGREEN CARD VOICES — $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE REBUILD FOUNDATION NFP — $20,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more — $85,000 · Arts & Culture+7 moreThe Chicago Community Trust — $90,000 · PhilanthropyThe Chicago …ACTBLUE CHARITIES INC — $78,000 · PhilanthropyACTBLUE CHAR…Evanston Community Foundation — $73,000 · PhilanthropyEvanston Com…Groundswell Fund — $51,000 · PhilanthropyGroundswell …TIDES FOUNDATION — $26,500 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDA…APPALACHIAN COMMUNITY FUND — $20,000 · PhilanthropyAPPALACHIAN …+1 more — $10,000 · PhilanthropyWALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS — $65,000 · EducationWALLIN EDUC…Columbia College Chicago — $45,000 · EducationColumbia Co…UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION — $40,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY …PROTEUS FUND INC — $31,000 · EducationPROTEUS FUN…Oberlin College — $30,000 · EducationOberlin Col…University of Chicago — $30,000 · EducationUniversity …Earlham College Inc — $30,000 · EducationEarlham Col…CLIMATE GENERATION — $26,500 · EducationCLIMATE GEN…TRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — $15,000 · EducationCHICAGO FREEDOM SCHOOL — $15,000 · EducationPlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $80,000 · HealthPlanned Pa…BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $75,000 · HealthBOSTON MED…THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH — $73,000 · HealthTHE MICHAE…ABORTION CARE NETWORK — $40,000 · HealthABORTION C…Rush University Medical Center — $15,000 · HealthRECLAIM — $15,000 · HealthNational Domestic Workers Alliance Inc — $73,000 · Civil RightsSOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND INC — $30,000 · Civil RightsLAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND INC — $21,000 · Civil RightsNDN COLLECTIVE INC — $107,250 · Community ImprovementNEIGHBORSPACE — $10,000 · Community Improvement
Other$1,348,333Arts & Culture$590,000Philanthropy$348,500Education$327,500Health$298,000Civil Rights$124,000Community Improvement$117,250

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetDeeply Rooted Productions Inc — $120,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetNDN COLLECTIVE INC — $107,250 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMUSICA FRANKLIN INC — $100,000 over 2y, 22% of budgetPARK NICOLLET FOUNDATION — $99,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetThe Chicago Community Trust — $90,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS FUND INC — $84,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $80,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois — $80,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetACTBLUE CHARITIES INC — $78,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHEADWATERS FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE — $75,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAction Center on Race and the Economy — $73,000 over 3y, 9.3% of budgetSHRIVER CENTER ON POVERTY LAW — $73,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetEvanston Community Foundation — $73,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetNational Domestic Workers Alliance Inc — $73,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH — $73,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS — $65,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO — $65,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetACHIEVE TWIN CITIES — $60,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetGroundswell Fund — $51,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMULTI-ARTS INC — $50,000 over 1y, 41% of budgetColumbia College Chicago — $45,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMISSOURI JOBS WITH JUSTICE — $45,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetSISTERSONG INC — $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION — $40,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetABORTION CARE NETWORK — $40,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetURBAN GROWERS COLLECTIVE INC — $35,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetLINKS HALL INC — $35,000 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetREFUGEEONE — $34,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetPROTEUS FUND INC — $31,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOberlin College — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERNERS ON NEW GROUND INC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBIKES NOT BOMBS INC — $30,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHigh Concept Laboratories — $30,000 over 3y, 7.1% of budgetCenter on Halsted — $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetVOICES FOR RACIAL JUSTICE — $30,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetUniversity of Chicago — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART — $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEarlham College Inc — $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC — $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOUTFRONT MINNESOTA COMMUNITY SERVICES — $30,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHOUSAND CURRENTS — $27,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited for A Fair Economy Inc — $27,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION — $26,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCLIMATE GENERATION — $26,500 over 3y, 0.6% 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.

Gaylord and Dorothy D…The Chicago Community…John D and Catherine …The Minneapolis Found…The Joyce FoundationSaint Paul & Minnesot…The McKnight Foundati…Fr Bigelow FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…Tides FoundationMarbrook FoundationMortenson Family Foun…
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley FoundationIL29.3× affinity12 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · The Joyce Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · Marbrook Foundation · Mortenson Family Foundation

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 Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C 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 · 50%3%13%28%50%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 23%
  • Musica Franklin Inc — 29% of income from government
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation — 23% of income from government
  • Multi-Arts Inc — 3% of income from government
  • Bikes Not Bombs Inc — 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get 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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C?

Find your warmest path to The Martha Struthers Farley and Donald C 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 87 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

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