Illinois · Private foundation
The Sue and Melvin Gray 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.
- $136k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 19
- Grants FY2025
- 22
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 14%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $5,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $30,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 18 to 26
- FY2020 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 3
- Total assets, FY2025
- $136k
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 14% of the organizations The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 12% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 19 | $136k | 5% |
| FY2024 | 22 | $149k | 14% |
| FY2023 | 18 | $149k | 0% |
| FY2022 | 23 | $169k | 13% |
| FY2021 | 23 | $167k | 9% |
| FY2020 | 26 | $199k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $95,000 | 6 | 0% |
| University of Chicago Medical Center | $50,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Human Rights Watch Inc | $25,000 | 5 | 0% |
| The Latin School of Chicago | $25,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Chicago Shakespeare Theater | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Better Government Association Inc | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $15,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | $8,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Chikaming Open Lands | $6,000 | 6 | 0% |
Show all 11 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Symphony Orchestra | $95,000 | 6 | 0% |
| University of Chicago Medical Center | $50,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Human Rights Watch Inc | $25,000 | 5 | 0% |
| The Latin School of Chicago | $25,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Chicago Shakespeare Theater | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Better Government Association Inc | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago | $15,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Steppenwolf Theatre Company | $15,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Lincoln Park Zoological Society | $8,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Chikaming Open Lands | $6,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest | $1,000 | 2 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 24 recipients with no EIN on record ($697k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Sue and Melvin Gray 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: Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Compare The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Sue and Melvin Gray 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 Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation
- How much does The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation give?
- The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation reported 19 grants totaling $135,515 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 18 and 26 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2024.
- What does The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (45%), Education (28%), Health (6%).
- Who are The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Chicago Symphony Orchestra ($95k), University of Chicago Medical Center ($50k), Human Rights Watch Inc ($25k).
- Does The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 14% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Sue and Melvin Gray 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 Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Polk Bros Foundation Inc, The Chicago Community Trust, Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund.
- Where is The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation based?
- The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation is based in IL.
Play a game based on Sue and Melvin Gray’s filings →