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The Rusnak Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Rusnak Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$25k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% 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$430kHealth$108kFood & Nutrition$65kPhilanthropy$40kEducation$35kSocial Science$25kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$358k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Planned Parenthood$25,000
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 (FY17–17, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%American Red Cross: $5k → 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.
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$679k · 13 repeat orgs$31k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
5

Total granted

$679k
$31k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+42%

Still filing today

62%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesFood & NutritionInternationalHealthOther
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

  • CS
    Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    6× · 2017–2022 · $184k · revenue +58%
  • TC
    THE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS
    4× · 2017–2020 · $80k · revenue +29%
  • MS
    MERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $70k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • FM
    FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +42%
  • AA
    ARIZONA ARTS CIRCLE LTD
    one grant, 2020 · $6k · revenue -17%
  • NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +11%
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
Chamber Opera of Chicago
—
2
Chicago Opera Theater

Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.

Arts & Culture
3
Classical Music Chicago

Presenting free high-quality classical music performances and music education experiences in the Chicago metropolitan area for people of all ages and degrees of musical awareness so they can experience how music enriches life.

Arts & Culture
4
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
5
True Chicago
Arts & Culture
6
Columbia College Chicago

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

Education
7
The Chicago Academy for the Arts

The chicago academy for the arts transforms emerging artists through a curriculum and culture which connect intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity to impart the skills to lead and collaborate across diverse communities.

—
8
Chicago Sinfonietta Inc

Chicago Sinfonietta is a professional orchestra dedicated to modeling and promoting diversity, inclusion, and both racial and cultural equity in the arts through the universal language of symphonic music. Our core values are built around…

Arts & Culture
9
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
10
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic

To present high quality arts programming and musical performances that will educate, enrich and improve the quality of life for the diverse Chicago cultural communities and beyond.

—
11
The Chicago Philharmonic Society

To excite, engage, and transform diverse audiences with the beauty and power of music.

Arts & Culture
12
Chicago Historical Society

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…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Museum of Contemporary Art; the most unlike its peers is National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 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

12 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. 12 of the 18 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
10/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: $184,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Symphony OrchestraMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $70,000 · Arts & CultureMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSICLyric Opera of Chicago: $65,000 · Arts & CultureLyric Opera of ChicagoMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $6,000 · Arts & CulturePlanned Parenthood: $90,000 · OtherPlanned ParenthoodUNITED WAY: $40,000 · OtherUNITED WAYChicago Foundation for Education: $30,000 · OtherChicago Foundation for EducationHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: $25,000 · OtherHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOLNATIONAL MS SOCIETY: $13,000 · OtherNATIONAL MS SOCIETY+2 more: $7,000 · OtherTHE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $80,000 · EducationTHE CHICAGO HI…THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $10,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTIT…GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $55,000 · Food & NutritionFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $10,000 · InternationalNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $5,000 · HealthAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,000 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$340,000Other$205,000Education$90,000Food & Nutrition$55,000International$10,000Health$5,000Human Services$5,000

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 budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra: $184,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $80,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMERIT SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $70,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetLyric Opera of Chicago: $65,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $55,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Foundation for Education: $30,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA ARTS CIRCLE LTD: $6,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Rusnak Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Rusnak Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%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
    0get no government money at all
    5report 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 18 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