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The Polsky Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Polsky 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.

$7.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
39
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$2.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$8.7MPhilanthropy$8.2MEducation$7.8MHealth$3.6MHuman Services$1.2MEnvironment$1.1MPublic Benefit$1.1MPublic Safety & Disaster$790kOther$0
02FY2024 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $58k
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $240k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $500k
  • $250k+4 grants · $7.0M
$10,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$63M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BRCA Research and Cure Alliance$2,293,698
Northwestern Memorial Foundation$2,006,992
University of Chicago 2016$1,704,101
Our Home Ukraine$968,283
Voice Health Institute$200,000
White Stork$150,000
St Nicholas UK Catholic School$50,000
Art Institute of Chicago$50,000
The Museum of Contemporary Art$50,000
Boys and Girls Club of Chicago$31,568
Chicago Association of Veterans of WWII$27,801
Latin School of Chicago$25,000
Illinois Holocaust Museum$25,000
VetVoice Foundation$20,000
Chicago Media Project$18,452
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 (FY22–23, $107k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%This Child Here: $79k → 12%Envision Unlimited: $5k → 14%The Honeycomb Project: $23k → 14%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.

Which US states its grants reach

MN
IL
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
VA
AZ
DC
TX
FL
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$28M · 33 repeat orgs$6.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 20 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
36

Total granted

$28M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+4%

Still filing today

61%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 34% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5.1M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureInternationalEducationHealthPhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • University of Chicago
    3× · 2017–2021 · $5.5M · revenue +56%
  • VH
    VOICE HEALTH INSTITUTE
    4× · 2020–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +22% · 97% of their budget
  • THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION
    2× · 2020–2022 · $1000k · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • PM
    POLISH MESSENGER OF THE SACRED HEART INC
    one grant, 2022 · $190k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $175k
  • Save The Children Federation Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue -13%
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
UChicago Research International

To engage in scientific research and educational activities throughout the world on behalf of and in conjunction with the university of chicago.

Health
2
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
3
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
5
Saint Xavier University

Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…

Education
6
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
7
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
8
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
9
The Chicago Innovation Foundation
Philanthropy
10
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
11
Loyola University of Chicago

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.

Education
12
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Architecture Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Brca Research and Cure Alliance. 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

54 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. 54 of the 92 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/54
Grantees still filing
29/54
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Northwestern Memorial Foundation: $8,006,992 · OtherNorthwestern Memorial FoundationUChicago Polsky Center: $6,429,467 · OtherUChicago Polsky CenterUniversity of Chicago 2016: $1,704,101 · OtherUniversity of Chicago 2016United States Holocaust Museum: $1,205,000 · OtherUnited States Holocaust MuseumOur Home Ukraine: $968,283 · OtherIllinois Holocaust Museum: $730,000 · Other+46 more: $1,790,385 · Other+46 moreUniversity of Chicago: $5,500,000 · EducationUniversity of Chicag…THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $296,041 · Education+7 more: $181,500 · EducationBRCA Research and Cure Alliance: $2,293,698 · HealthBRCA Resear…VOICE HEALTH INSTITUTE: $1,000,000 · HealthVOICE HEALT…BREAKTHROUGH T1D: $150,000 · Health+4 more: $92,500 · HealthWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $1,000,000 · InternationalYAHAD- IN UNUM MID-AMERICA: $150,000 · InternationalSave The Children Federation Inc: $100,000 · International+5 more: $35,300 · InternationalTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $999,999 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $105,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $105,000 · Arts & CultureWhite Stork - United States Ltd: $789,704 · Public Safety & DisasterUkrainian Resistance Foundation: $52,500 · Public Safety & DisasterJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $131,800 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $10,000 · PhilanthropyUKRAINIAN GENOCIDE FAMINE FOUNDATION USA INC: $9,500 · Philanthropy+2 more: $6,200 · Philanthropy
Other$20,834,228Education$5,977,541Health$3,536,198International$1,285,300Arts & Culture$1,209,999Public Safety & Disaster$842,204Philanthropy$157,500

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 budgetUniversity of Chicago: $5,500,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBRCA Research and Cure Alliance: $2,293,698 over 1y, 100% of budgetVOICE HEALTH INSTITUTE: $1,000,000 over 4y, 97% of budgetWORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE: $1,000,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $999,999 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWhite Stork - United States Ltd: $789,704 over 3y, 17% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $296,041 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetYAHAD- IN UNUM MID-AMERICA: $150,000 over 2y, 26% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $131,800 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO: $111,568 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $105,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetHOPE CHICAGO INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS: $100,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetTHIS CHILD HERE INC: $79,182 over 1y, 21% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUkrainian Resistance Foundation: $52,500 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVET VOICE FOUNDATION INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetAuditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO MEDIA PROJECT: $33,452 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetTHE HONEYCOMB PROJECT INC NFP: $23,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUROLOGICAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetHIGH JUMP: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNorthwestern University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBig Green: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHICAGO CARES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetUKRAINIAN GENOCIDE FAMINE FOUNDATION USA INC: $9,500 over 2y, 14% of budgetHELP HEROES OF UKRAINE INC NFP: $8,300 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $8,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Architecture Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetClayco Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetEnvision Unlimited: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINGENUITY INCORPORATED CHICAGO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetABUNDANCE INTERNATIONAL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNAVY PIER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOLCOTT SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUKRAINIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetRevived Soldiers Ukraine: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds BRCA Research and Cure Alliance ↗
  • Who funds VOICE HEALTH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds White Stork - United States Ltd ↗
  • Who funds THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds YAHAD- IN UNUM MID-AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART ↗
  • Who funds HOPE CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds EVERGREEN CLIMATE INNOVATIONS ↗
  • Who funds THIS CHILD HERE INC ↗
  • Who funds Planned Parenthood of Illinois ↗
  • Who funds Ukrainian Resistance Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds VET VOICE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Inc ↗
  • Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗

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.

The Chicago Community…The Selfreliance Foun…The Heritage Foundati…Arie and Ida Crown Me…Circle of Service Fou…Jewish Federation of …The Robert Thomas Bob…Kovler Family Foundat…Polk Bros Foundation …Gs Donor Advised Phil…Ncrc Community Develo…AbbVie Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL19.3× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · The Selfreliance Foundation · The Heritage Foundation of First Security Federal Savings Bank Inc · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Circle of Service Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation · Kovler Family Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Ncrc Community Development Fund Inc · AbbVie 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 Polsky Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Polsky Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 92 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

Play a game based on Polsky’s filings →

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