· Private foundation
The Regenstein 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 $10k6 grants · $30k
- $10k–50k8 grants · $135k
- $50k–250k10 grants · $1.1M
- $250k+5 grants · $5.4M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SHEDD AQUARIUM | $1,750,000 |
| ANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL | $1,060,000 |
| SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITY LAB | $1,055,000 |
| RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER | $1,020,000 |
| CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN | $550,000 |
| LINCOLN PARK ZOO | $240,000 |
| GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE | $225,000 |
| NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $150,000 |
| FIELD MUSEUM | $100,000 |
| NAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL | $100,000 |
| NAPLES ZOO | $90,000 |
| CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY | $90,000 |
| LUMEN CHRISTI INSTITUTE | $55,000 |
| AMERICAN RED CROSS | $50,000 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $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.
Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $163k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 95% of those 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 +38% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.
33 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
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, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $205k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- RURush University Medical Center6× · 2020–2025 · $5.2M · revenue +30%
- RIRehabilitation Institute of Chicago6× · 2020–2025 · $4.9M · revenue +27%
- CHCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY6× · 2020–2025 · $4.8M · revenue +27%
Funded once
- ARANN & ROBERT H LURIE CHILDREN'Sone grant, 2024 · $1.1M
- JUJEWISH UNITED FEDERATION OFone grant, 2024 · $50k
- JUJEWISH UNITED FERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGOone grant, 2023 · $50k
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.
The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."
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 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 adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…
The mission of cas/pnnm is to create a positive relationship between people and nature through collaborations, education, research and collections, exhibits and public forums that foster urban connections to our region's nature and science.
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…
The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
Through management of oakland zoo, the conservation society of california deepens connection with animals, saves wildlife, and inspires champions for the natural world.
See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.
We harness the power of plants for humankind and share the joy and beauty of tropical gardening with everyone. fairchild tropical botanic garden is a museum of tropical plants within a world famous, 83-acre designed landscape. it was…
The mission of the lincoln park conservancy is to preserve and enhance the inspiring beauty of chicago's largest and most visited park for current and future generations. we believe that beauty matters. that it has the transformative power…
How this is measured
36 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. 36 of the 55 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 Rush University Medical Center ↗
- Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds SHEDD AQUARIUM SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds GULFSHORE PLAYHOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds THE CONSERVANCY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA ↗
- Who funds FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
- Who funds GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY ↗
- Who funds Chicago Zoological Society ↗
- Who funds NCH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC ↗
- Who funds NAPLES ZOO INC ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds NAPLES COMMUNITY HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds University of Chicago ↗
- Who funds THE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds EVANSTON REBUILDING WAREHOUSE ↗
- Who funds MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LUMEN CHRISTI INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds The Arc of Greater New Orleans ↗
- Who funds THE SERVICE CLUB OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds Friends of Catherine and Channel Lakes ↗
- Who funds Conservation Nation ↗
- Who funds ARTIS-NAPLES INC ↗
- Who funds Parliament of the Worlds Religions ↗
- Who funds THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
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: The Chicago Community Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Regenstein Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Regenstein Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Naples Botanical Garden Inc: 3% of income from government
- The Shelter for Abused Women & Children Inc: 2% of income from government
- Gulfshore Playhouse Inc: 0% of income from government
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Regenstein Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Regenstein 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.
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