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Wagner Descendant's Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Wagner Descendant's Foundation

The foundation is organized to foster, promote, support, develop, and maintain the broad, charitable, educational or religious purpose or functions as authorized by the charter of the jewish federation of metropolitan chicago and the by-laws of the foundation.

$70k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$70k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$764kInternational$562kEducation$30kScience & Tech$10k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$70,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$70,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Israel Emergency AllianceStand With Us: $22k → 14%Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy: $8k → 9%American Committee for Weizmann Institute of Science: $10k → 17%American Israel Education Foundation: $50k → 14%Chicago Jewish Day School: $10k → 14%Israel Emergency AllianceStand With Us: $22k → 14%Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy: $8k → 9%Washington Institute for Near East Policy: $182k → 14%Chicago Jewish Day School: $10k → 14%Israel Emergency AllianceStand With Us: $22k → 14%Washington Institute for Near East Policy: $110k → 14%Friends of ELNET: $45k → 14%Prager University Foundation: $10k → 14%Washington Institute for Near East Policy: $10k → 14%Friends of ELNET: $40k → 14%Friends of ELNET: $35k → 14%Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago: $269k → 14%Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago: $205k → 14%JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $70k → 14%Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago: $60k → 14%Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago: $60k → 14%Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago: $45k → 14%Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago: $40k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$897k · 5 repeat orgs$115k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
6

Total granted

$897k
$115k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+71%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

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

50%100%’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’25
InternationalEducationPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
    4× · 2021–2025 · $395k · revenue +33%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF ELNET
    3× · 2021–2023 · $120k · revenue +47%
  • IE
    ISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE
    3× · 2021–2023 · $65k · revenue +17%

Funded once

  • AI
    AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -13%
  • FF
    Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Incgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +77%
  • PU
    PRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +112%
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.

04Its field

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.

1
University of Judaism Foundation
—
2
Jewish Electorate Institute

The jewish electorate institute (jei) is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that surveys, interprets, reports, and educates the public about the perspectives, voting behaviors, and motivations of the american jewish…

Civil Rights
3
Foundation for Conservative Judiasm of South Florida
—
4
The Jewish Agency for Israel

The jewish agency binds jews across ideologies and civilizations together in a worldwide jewish family with israel at its center. it provides the global framework for aliyah, ensures global jewish safety, strengthens jewish identity and…

—
5
American Friends of Hebrew University Inc

Support the hebrew univ. of jerusalem, israel's foremost center of higher edu. & research.

International
6
The Israel Institute Inc

The israel institute, inc. (the institute) enhances knowledge about modern israel by ensuring that more students have access to courses about israel during their time on campus.

International
7
Friends of Institute for Zionist

The organization seeks to reinforce the foundations of israel as a jewish and democratic state. it acts to promote programs to educate the israeli public on the importance of both values and to demonstrate how each contributes to and…

International
8
Eastern European Jewish Heritage Foundation
Philanthropy
9
Weizmann Institute of Science

The weizmann institute of science, located in rehovot, israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking, multidisciplinary research institutions. at any one time, several thousand scientists, staff and students are involved in hundreds of research…

Science & Tech
10
The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life Inc
Religion
11
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
12
American Friends of Bar-Ilan University

We fundraise in the u.s. to support, and raise awareness of, bar-ilan university in israel.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Israel Education Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $395,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGOJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $354,446 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO+1 more: $15,000 · PhilanthropyWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $302,000 · InternationalWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICYFRIENDS OF ELNET: $120,000 · InternationalFRIENDS OF ELNETISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE: $64,800 · InternationalISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCEAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · InternationalAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INCFoundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $25,000 · International+1 more: $10,000 · InternationalPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EducationCHICAGO JEWISH DAY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EducationCHICAGO JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $10,000 · Education
Philanthropy$764,446International$571,800Education$30,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $395,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $354,446 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $302,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF ELNET: $120,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetISRAEL EMERGENCY ALLIANCE: $64,800 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFoundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCenter for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO JEWISH DAY SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHICAGO JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
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.

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.

Jewish Federation of …Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Jewish Federation of MetropolitanIL13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Wagner Descendant's Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Wagner Descendant's Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Wagner Descendant's Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Wagner Descendant's 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.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 12 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

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

    Source object · view filing

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home