· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k13 grants · $36k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| NEWBERRY LIBRARY - CONVERSATIONS | $30,000 |
| RYAN OPERA CENTER | $25,000 |
| CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $15,000 |
| INTRINSIC SCHOOLS OF CHICAGO | $10,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO-MEDICINE & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPT | $10,000 |
| LURIE CHILDREN'S MEMORIAL FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $6,515 |
| ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (SUSTAINING FELLOWS) | $6,000 |
| HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | $5,000 |
| WFMTWTTW | $5,000 |
| CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER | $2,500 |
| BGA-BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION | $2,500 |
| JEWISH UNITED FUND | $2,500 |
| LINCOLN PARK ZOO | $1,500 |
| SPERTUS INSTITUTE | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CSChicago Symphony Orchestra6× · 2020–2025 · $95k · revenue +71%
- UOUniversity of Chicago Medical Center5× · 2020–2024 · $50k · revenue +60%
- TLTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO5× · 2020–2024 · $25k · revenue +24%
Funded once
- LOLYRIC OPERA CAPITAL CAMPAIGNone grant, 2020 · $25k
- RORYON OPERA CENTERone grant, 2022 · $10k
- PLPEPPER LION HOUSE - LINCOLN PARK ZOOone grant, 2020 · $5k
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.
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.
The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…
Lookingglass theatre company is a national leader in the creation and presentation of innovative, cutting-edge theatrical work. lookingglass interweaves movement, circus arts and narrative in original and captivating ways. guided by an…
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.
The organization pursues higher standards of news coverage of natural resources and the environment -- standards of accuracy, fairness, balance, depth and context.
We are chicago's jesuit, catholic university - a diverse community seeking god in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.
The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.
Endeavor Health Clinical Operations follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."
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.
East-west university is an independent institution of higher learning located in downtown chicago. its mission is the pursuit of excellence by all through relevant, effective and convenient education and service to humankind with a global,…
How this is measured
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 36 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds University of Chicago Medical Center ↗
- Who funds HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC ↗
- Who funds THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER ↗
- Who funds BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds CHIKAMING OPEN LANDS ↗
- Who funds THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER OF THE MIDWEST ↗
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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sue and Melvin Gray Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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.
Play a game based on Sue and Melvin Gray’s filings →