Illinois · Private foundation
The Stairway Fund
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.
- $597k
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 69
- Grants FY2024
- 57
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 21%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $100,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 39 to 57
- FY2020 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 9
- Total assets, FY2024
- $3.2M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 21% of the organizations The Stairway Fund funded were first-time grantees, receiving 8% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $51k 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 63 | $597k | 27% |
| FY2023 | 57 | $652k | 21% |
| FY2022 | 54 | $683k | 30% |
| FY2021 | 41 | $417k | 37% |
| FY2020 | 39 | $497k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 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, FY2020 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington University | $325,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Madison Square Park Conservancy Inc | $190,276 | 5 | 1% |
| Share Our Strength | $154,800 | 5 | 0% |
| Union Square Partnership Inc | $105,000 | 5 | 8% |
| The Colorado College | $100,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Steep Rock Association Inc | $99,531 | 4 | 2% |
| Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence | $65,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Gramercy Park Block Assoc Inc | $50,000 | 5 | 2% |
| Washington Ambulance Association Inc | $45,000 | 4 | 17% |
| Robin Hood Foundation | $37,500 | 4 | 0% |
Show all 73 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 26 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.0M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Stairway Fund 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 Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The Kestrel Foundation · The Connecticut Community Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Murray & Susan Haber Charitable Foundation · Fjc · The Ford Foundation · The New York Community Trust · California Community Foundation · Bitar Foundation Inc · Coleman Family Charitable Foundation · Dungannon Foundation Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Stairway Fund?
Find your warmest path to The Stairway Fund 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 Stairway Fund
- How much does The Stairway Fund give?
- The Stairway Fund reported 69 grants totaling $596,800 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 39 and 57 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2023.
- What does The Stairway Fund fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2024, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (31%), Education (28%), Environment (12%).
- Who are The Stairway Fund's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2024: Washington University ($325k), Madison Square Park Conservancy Inc ($190k), Share Our Strength ($155k).
- Does The Stairway Fund fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 21% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Stairway Fund 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 Stairway Fund?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund, The Kestrel Foundation, The Connecticut Community Foundation.
- Where is The Stairway Fund based?
- The Stairway Fund is based in IL.
Play a game based on Stairway’s filings →