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The Sammann Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sammann Family 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.

$233k
Granted FY2025still arriving
33
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$66k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2025.

Religion$197kFood & Nutrition$140kInternational$38kHuman Services$30kCrime & Legal$25kPublic Safety & Disaster$13kPhilanthropy$10kYouth Development$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k25 grants · $59k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $108k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $66k
$2,500
Median grant
10
States reached
$3.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NORTH SUBURBAN EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH$66,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$35,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$15,000
CASA LAKE COUNTY INC$12,730
SAMARITANS PURSE$12,500
THE SALVATION ARMY$12,500
GREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY$10,000
NORTH SUBURBAN EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH$10,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$5,000
UNITED WAY OF LAKE COUNTY INC$5,000
K-LOVE INC$5,000
BUILD INCORPORATED$5,000
SAMARITANS PURSE$5,000
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN$5,000
MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE CONCERT SERIES INC$2,500
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 (FY24–25, $18k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%FAMILY SERVICE CENTER OF WILMETTE GLENVIEW NORTHBR: $100 → 14%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $8k → 14%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $3k → 14%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $2k → 14%SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $3k → 14%SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $3k → 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
WI
IA
CO
TN
NC
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$446k · 14 repeat orgs$26k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
1

Total granted

$446k
$100

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+17%

Still filing today

64%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $26k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24’25
Food & NutritionHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyReligionCivil RightsOther
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

  • FM
    FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $120k · revenue +7%
  • AN
    American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches
    2× · 2024–2025 · $13k · revenue +3%
  • SF
    SAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE
    2× · 2024–2025 · $5k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • TF
    THE FAMILY SERVICE CENTER OF WILMETTE GLENVIEW NORTHBROOK AND KENILWORTH
    one grant, 2024 · $100 · revenue +17%
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
United Children's Services of Bennington County Inc

Children's services

Human Services
2
Chicago Children's Advocacy Center

The chicago children's advocacy center unites public, private, and community partners to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of abused children.

Crime & Legal
3
Nourishing Hope

Nourishing hope provides food, mental health support, and social services to help all our neighbors thrive.

—
4
Lurie Children's Surgical Foundation Inc

Provide pediatric and subspecialty surgical, research, and educational services.

—
5
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
6
Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois

Lutheran child and family services of illinois (agency) is a nonprofit statewide social service agency whose mission is to attract, develop, mobilize, and prvoide resources to improve the well-being of children, individuals, families,…

—
7
Kids Above All Illinois

Helping chicagoland's at-risk children and their families build, achieve and sustain better lives.

—
8
Friends of the Children - Chicago

Friends of the children - chicago has a mission of impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors - 12+ years, no matter what. 92% go on to enroll in…

Human Services
9
Jewish Family and Children's Service of Minneapolis

Jewish family and children's service of minneapolis provides essential services to people of all ages and backgrounds to sustain healthy relationships, ease suffering and offer support in times of need.

Human Services
10
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
11
Childserve Inc

We partner with families to help children with special health care needs live a great life.

—
12
Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago

Create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite and empower the promise of youth. we nurture children, strengthen communities and believe that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Feed My Starving Children Inc; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. 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

21 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. 21 of the 28 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
21/21
Grantees still filing
6/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTH SUBURBAN EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH: $188,000 · OtherNORTH SUBURBAN EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCHTHE SALVATION ARMY: $25,000 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMY+14 more: $29,850 · Other+14 moreFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $120,000 · InternationalFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC+1 more: $3,600 · InternationalSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $32,500 · ReligionCASA LAKE COUNTY INC: $24,280 · Civil RightsGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $15,000 · Food & NutritionCare and Share Inc: $2,500 · Food & NutritionCAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC: $2,500 · Food & NutritionAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $12,500 · Human ServicesSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $5,000 · Human Services+1 more: $100 · Human ServicesUNITED WAY OF LAKE COUNTY INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropySAVING TINY HEARTS SOCIETY: $500 · Philanthropy
Other$242,850International$123,600Religion$32,500Civil Rights$24,280Food & Nutrition$20,000Human Services$17,600Philanthropy$10,500

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 budgetFEED MY STARVING CHILDREN INC: $120,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $32,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCASA LAKE COUNTY INC: $24,280 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $12,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF LAKE COUNTY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBUILD INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S RELIEF INTERNATIONAL: $3,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCare and Share Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSIC OF THE BAROQUE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCIVIC LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSKOKIE COUNTRY CLUB EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPRAIRIE STATE LEGAL SERVICES INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetORPHANS OF THE STORM: $350 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FAMILY SERVICE CENTER OF WILMETTE GLENVIEW NORTHBROOK AND KENILWORTH: $100 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.

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…National Philanthropi…AbbVie FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Natl Christian Charit…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Chicago Community TrustIL13× affinity5 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · AbbVie Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Sammann Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sammann Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 28 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Sammann Family’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