· Private foundation
The Wicklander 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Big Shoulders Fund | $6,500 |
| Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago | $6,500 |
| Chicago Jesuit Academy | $6,500 |
| Shirly Ryan Ability Lab | $6,500 |
| After School Matters | $5,000 |
| Mercy Home for Boys and Girls | $5,000 |
| Misericordia Foundation | $5,000 |
| Our Lady of Tepeyac | $5,000 |
| Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra | $3,000 |
| Josephinum Academy | $2,000 |
| DePaul University | $1,500 |
| Fenwick High School | $1,500 |
| The Chicago Help Initiative | $1,500 |
| Cincinatti Childrens Hospital | $1,000 |
| Community Support Services | $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.
Its human-services grants (FY17–21, $26k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 85% of those 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.
31 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BSBig Shoulders Fund5× · 2017–2021 · $28k · revenue +67%
- UVUNITING VOICES5× · 2017–2021 · $25k · revenue +22%
- ASAFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC5× · 2017–2021 · $21k · revenue +90%
Funded once
- BABoys and Girls Club Chicagoone grant, 2022 · $8k
- EVEL VALOR CORPORATIONone grant, 2021 · $7k · revenue +12%
- DUDEPAUL UNIVERSITYone grant, 2021 · $6k · 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.
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.
Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…
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.
Chicago scholars is transforming the leadership landscape of our city by resolving the fundamental barriers to success for academically driven, first generation college students from under-resourced communities.
To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy
The team at kipp chicago schools is guided by a simple, yet powerful mission: to create a network of excellent schools in chicago that teach our students the character and academic skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond, and to…
A better chicago is changing how chicago fights poverty by investing in bold ideas that create opportunity for our youth.
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.
Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and…
Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…
Ann & robert h. lurie children's hospital of chicago is dedicated to the health and well-being of all children. as the pediatric teaching facility for northwestern university feinberg school of medicine, this commitment drives us to be a…
See schedule othe mission of skills is to stand as a life-changing employment resource connecting underrepresented job seekers to employers with opportunities across industries. we do this by building multi-level, trusted relationships…
How this is measured
20 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. 20 of the 63 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 Big Shoulders Fund ↗
- Who funds UNITING VOICES ↗
- Who funds AFTER SCHOOL MATTERS INC ↗
- Who funds BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds UNION LEAGUE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS ↗
- Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK INC ↗
- Who funds THE LEADERSHOP ↗
- Who funds EL VALOR CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF FISHER HOUSE - ILLINOIS INC ↗
- Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds SHARING CONNECTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds ELIM CHRISTIAN SERVICES ↗
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 Service Club of Chicago · Baird Foundation Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Edmond and Alice Opler Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Wicklander Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Wicklander Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Wicklander Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Wicklander Family 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.
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