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Plinth

· Private foundation

Trotter 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.

$225k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What you fund
0189% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Animals$810kEducation$330kReligion$122kArts & Culture$13kHuman Services$10kFood & Nutrition$6kInternational$5kHousing & Shelter$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$125,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE FRIENDS OF MORTON SCHOOL$125,000
THE TROTTER PROJECT$100,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–19, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $300 → 14%NIGHT MINISTRY: $200 → 14%MARRYVILLE ACADEMY: $500 → 14%MARRYVILLE ACADEMY: $100 → 14%ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $1k → 14%Tuesday's Child: $500 → 14%ORCHARD VILLAGE: $200 → 14%Children's Home Aid: $500 → 14%HOWARD AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: $300 → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
WI
MI
NY
IN
OH
PA
CT
CA
MO
KY
VA
MD
NC
DC
OK

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.1M · 41 repeat orgs$208k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +43% since the first grant, against +36% for the ones you funded once.

41 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2025, 39 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
63

Total granted

$1.1M
$208k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+36%

Still filing today

44%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesAnimalsInternationalArts & CultureHousing & ShelterOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TA
    THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
    3× · 2017–2019 · $3k · revenue +45%
  • BS
    Big Shoulders Fund
    2× · 2017–2018 · $2k · revenue +67%
  • SP
    SAMARITAN'S PURSE
    3× · 2017–2019 · $2k · revenue +134%

Funded once

  • FP
    FIRST PRES CHURCH OF WILMETTE
    one grant, 2018 · $42k
  • FP
    First Presbyterian Church of Wilmet
    one grant, 2019 · $35k
  • FP
    FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
    one grant, 2017 · $30k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Saint Xavier University

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…

Education
2
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

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.

Education
3
The University of Chicago Charter School Corporation

To Prepare Students for Success in Four-Year Colleges.

Education
4
Chicago Public Education Fund

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.

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
6
Concordia University Chicago

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…

Education
7
Kipp Chicago Schools

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…

Education
8
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute

The chicago psychoanalytic institute transforms the lives of individuals, families and communities, using psychoanalytic knowledge to help them grow and thrive.

Social Science
9
Communities in Schools of Chicago

Communities in schools of chicago (cis of chicago) connects social, health, and enrichment programs and services to chicago public school students. cis of chicago helps schools address students' most pressing needs by training them to…

10
Lycee Francais de Chicago Inc

The Lycee Francais de Chicago, driven by our core values of respect, responsibility and the joy of learning, empowers students to grow into active global citizens.

Education
11
Junior Achievement of Chicago

To inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy

International
12
Illinois College

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…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Home & Aid Society of Ill and the most unlike its peers is Meals On Wheels. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 58 years old; the field is 17. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number21%0%<5yr14%2%5–10yr18%4%10–20yr17%6%20–35yr14%32%35–55yr16%55%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value21%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr18%27%10–20yr17%12%20–35yr14%22%35–55yr16%40%55yr+

The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/49
the rest of the field
15%
5,513/35,887

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

45 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 45 of the 105 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/45
Grantees still filing
36/45
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

THE TROTTER PROJECT — $807,900 · OtherTHE TROTTER PROJECTTHE FRIENDS OF MORTON SCHOOL — $252,000 · OtherTHE FRIENDS OF MORTON SCHOOLFIRST PRES CHURCH OF WILMETTE — $41,910 · Other+71 more — $149,170 · Other+71 moreCATALYST SCHOOLS — $21,000 · EducationFREE UNION COUNTRY SCHOOL — $10,000 · EducationRENAISSANCE SCHOOL — $10,000 · EducationTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO — $10,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO — $2,500 · EducationBig Shoulders Fund — $2,200 · Education+2 more — $1,300 · EducationERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $1,300 · Human ServicesMaryville Academy — $600 · Human ServicesTuesdays Child — $500 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT MINISTRY — $500 · Human ServicesCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL — $500 · Human ServicesHoward Area Community Center — $300 · Human ServicesORCHARD VILLAGE — $200 · Human ServicesAkron Snow Angels — $200 · Human ServicesChicago Symphony Orchestra — $3,000 · Arts & CultureSNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATION — $500 · Arts & CultureChicago Architecture Foundation — $460 · Arts & CultureWORLD VISION INC — $1,200 · InternationalLUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC — $300 · InternationalFEED THE CHILDREN INC — $300 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $300 · InternationalSave The Children Federation Inc — $200 · InternationalThe Anti-Cruelty Society — $700 · AnimalsSAVE-A-PET INC — $500 · AnimalsChicago Zoological Society — $400 · AnimalsLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $300 · AnimalsORPHANS OF THE STORM — $300 · AnimalsPAWS INC — $100 · AnimalsSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $2,100 · Religion
Other$1,250,980Education$57,000Human Services$4,100Arts & Culture$3,960International$2,300Animals$2,300Religion$2,100

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetCATALYST SCHOOLS — $21,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFREE UNION COUNTRY SCHOOL — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRENAISSANCE SCHOOL — $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTANDEM FRIENDS SCHOOL OF CHARLOTTESVILLE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO — $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBig Shoulders Fund — $2,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $2,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetProvidence St Mel School — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE — $1,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD VISION INC — $1,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLENWOOD ACADEMY — $800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INC — $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDEBORAH'S PLACE — $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Anti-Cruelty Society — $700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LAMBS FARM INC — $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMaryville Academy — $600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEAR NORTH MONTESSORI SCHOOL — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSNOW CITY ARTS FOUNDATION — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAVE-A-PET INC — $500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTuesdays Child — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY — $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOME & AID SOCIETY OF ILL — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Architecture Foundation — $460 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetChicago Zoological Society — $400 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF INC — $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFEED THE CHILDREN INC — $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHoward Area Community Center — $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN PARK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY — $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetORPHANS OF THE STORM — $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO COALITION TO END HOMELESSNESS — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH SHORE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetORCHARD VILLAGE — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHELP HOSPITALIZED VETERANS INC — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc — $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAkron Snow Angels — $200 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLANDMARKS PRESERVATION COUNCIL OF ILLINOIS — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAWS INC — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDisabled American Veterans — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds CATALYST SCHOOLS
  • Who funds FREE UNION COUNTRY SCHOOL
  • Who funds RENAISSANCE SCHOOL
  • Who funds TANDEM FRIENDS SCHOOL OF CHARLOTTESVILLE
  • Who funds THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO
  • Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
  • Who funds Big Shoulders Fund
  • Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE
  • Who funds Providence St Mel School
  • Who funds CHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
  • Who funds ERIE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE
  • Who funds WORLD VISION INC
  • Who funds GLENWOOD ACADEMY
  • Who funds THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds DEBORAH'S PLACE
  • Who funds The Anti-Cruelty Society
  • Who funds THE LAMBS FARM INC

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Chicago Community TrustIL24.4× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Chicago Community Trust · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Helen V Brach Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · Dr Scholl Foundation · The a Montgomery Ward Foundation · Fifth Third Chicagoland Foundation · Chicago Board of Trade Foundation · Rice Foundation · Andrew and Alice Fischer Charitable Trust · Circle of Service Foundation · Baxter International Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Trotter Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 30%
  • Lutheran World Relief Inc47% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc30% of income from government
  • Feed the Children Inc1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY2025

Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 105 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph