Illinois · Private foundation
The Robert Thomas Bobins 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.
- $505k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 79
- Grants FY2025
- 80
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 19%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $1,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $75,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 80 to 132
- FY2019 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 10
- Total assets, FY2025
- $2.5M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 19% of the organizations The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 6% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $32k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 79 | $506k | 28% |
| FY2024 | 80 | $516k | 19% |
| FY2023 | 94 | $627k | 19% |
| FY2022 | 87 | $432k | 25% |
| FY2021 | 81 | $367k | 15% |
| FY2020 | 115 | $646k | 29% |
| FY2019 | 132 | $698k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago | $365,016 | 7 | 0% |
| Erikson Institute | $300,500 | 6 | 0% |
| Navy Pier Inc | $251,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Window to the World Communications Inc | $219,900 | 7 | 0% |
| Brain Research Foundation | $160,000 | 6 | 2% |
| Field Museum of Natural History | $140,000 | 7 | 0% |
| University of Chicago | $115,250 | 6 | 0% |
| Anshe Emet Synagogue | $111,002 | 7 | n/a |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | $95,500 | 4 | 0% |
| Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois Inc | $78,900 | 7 | 0% |
Show all 187 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 67 recipients with no EIN on record ($820k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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 · Circle of Service Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Patrick G and Shirley W Ryan Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Lavin Family Foundation · The Sidley Austin Foundation · United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc
How this is measured
Compare The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Robert Thomas Bobins 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.
About The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation
- How much does The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation give?
- The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation reported 79 grants totaling $504,525 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 80 and 132 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2024.
- What does The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (39%), Education (18%), Youth Development (11%).
- Who are The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2019 to FY2025: Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago ($365k), Erikson Institute ($301k), Navy Pier Inc ($251k).
- Does The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 19% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Chicago Community Trust, Circle of Service Foundation, John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation.
- Where is The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation based?
- The Robert Thomas Bobins Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Robert Thomas Bobins’ filings →