· Private foundation
Thomas W Dower Foundation
Its FY2026 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.
By grant size · FY2026
- Under $10k60 grants · $236k
- $10k–50k12 grants · $194k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| STEPPENWOLF THEATER COMPANY | $25,000 |
| ST COLETTA OF WISCONSIN | $24,000 |
| DE LASALLE INSTITUTE | $20,000 |
| ST RITA HIGH SCHOOL | $20,000 |
| UNIVVERSITY OF ST MARY OF THE LAKE SEMINARY | $15,000 |
| LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS | $15,000 |
| ST MALACHY SCHOOL | $15,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $15,000 |
| IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY | $12,500 |
| ANDERSON RANCH ART CENTER | $12,000 |
| RAVINIA | $10,000 |
| ST PETER'S CHURCH | $10,000 |
| TRILOGY INC | $9,000 |
| LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO | $7,500 |
| OX BOW SCHOOL OF ART INSTITUTE | $7,500 |
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 (FY17–26, $61k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
122 repeat relationships: 62 still active in FY2026, 60 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (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 FY2026, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $38k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- STSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY10× · 2017–2026 · $310k · revenue +59%
ST COLETTA OF WISCONSIN INC10× · 2017–2026 · $124k · revenue +91%- TATHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO3× · 2019–2021 · $75k · revenue +23%
Funded once
- SOSISTERS OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISIone grant, 2018 · $20k
- DLDE LASALLE HIGH SCHOOLone grant, 2023 · $20k
- SDSINSINAWA DOMICANS QUEEN OF PEACEone grant, 2019 · $15k
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.
Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…
The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.
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…
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
The chicago high school for the arts (chiarts) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory…
Steadfast in jesus christ as revealed in the holy scriptures, concordia university chicago promotes academic rigor in its liberal arts and professional programs; grounds students in objective truth, integrity, and excellence; and practices…
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.
Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work…
The Chicago School educates the next generation of change-makers in innovative theory and culturally competent practice to strengthen the integrated health of individuals, organizations, and communities.
The athenaeum center for thought and culture (actc) will promote and support the fine arts, cultural programming, and spiritual development for catholics and the general public in chicago, illinois. actc will operate from a historic…
Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…
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.
How this is measured
54 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 54 of the 172 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 STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds ST COLETTA OF WISCONSIN INC ↗
- Who funds Piven Theatre Workshop ↗
- Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
- Who funds ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER ↗
- Who funds TRILOGY INC ↗
- Who funds BRAIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ILLINOIS ↗
- Who funds ST PATRICK'S RESIDENCE ↗
- Who funds Lyric Opera of Chicago ↗
- Who funds THE IRISH GEORGIAN SOCIETY INC ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS CLUB FOR CATHOLIC WOMEN ↗
- Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds MINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS ↗
- Who funds THE BLAKE SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds Safer Foundation ↗
- Who funds Creighton University ↗
- Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
- Who funds SEMPER FI & AMERICA'S FUND ↗
- Who funds SALUTE INC ↗
- Who funds Chicago Humanities Festival ↗
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 Chicago Community Trust · Helen V Brach Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Charles H and Beverly E Shaw Foundation · Carol Bernick Family Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · Robert R McCormick Foundation · Motorola Solutions Foundation · The Canning Foundation · Big Shoulders Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Thomas W Dower Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas W Dower Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Star Community Inc: 2% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Thomas W Dower’s filings →