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· Private foundation

Washington Square Health Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$667k
Granted FY2025still arriving
76
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$50k
Largest
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.

Health$4.3MHuman Services$326kEducation$171kFood & Nutrition$166kCrime & Legal$165kHousing & Shelter$165kRecreation & Sports$92kReligion$81kOther$0
02FY2025 · 76 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k48 grants · $115k
  • $10k–50k27 grants · $502k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$4,250
Median grant
3
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
A Silver Lining Foundation$50,000
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab$43,478
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$36,115
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$30,000
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago$30,000
Gilda's Club Chicago$25,000
University of Illinois Foundation$25,000
Howard Brown Health Center$25,000
Keshet$25,000
La Rabida Children's Hospital$25,000
Wauconda Fire Protection District$20,000
Sinai Chicago$20,000
Individual grant recipient$17,500
Cornerstone Community Outreach$17,330
Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago$17,220
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $465k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%The Night Ministry: $24k → 14%The Night Ministry: $3k → 14%The Night Ministry: $3k → 14%The Night Ministry: $2k → 14%The Night Ministry: $10k → 14%Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe (FREE) Inc: $1k → 14%Center on Halsted: $4k → 14%Clearbook: $8k → 14%Clearbrook: $8k → 14%YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: $10k → 14%The Chicago Lighthouse For People Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired: $14k → 14%Orchard Village: $23k → 14%Orchard Village: $17k → 14%Little City Foundation: $13k → 14%Polish American Association: $38k → 14%Polish American Association: $13k → 14%Polish American Association: $3k → 14%Polish American Association: $2k → 14%JourneyCare: $25k → 14%Polish American Association: $2k → 14%JourneyCare: $25k → 14%Polish American Association: $1k → 14%JourneyCare: $16k → 14%JourneyCare: $16k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $30k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $21k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $14k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $13k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $10k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $6k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $4k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $3k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%Chicago Chesed Fund: $1k → 14%JourneyCare: $25k → 14%JourneyCare: $25k → 14%CJE SeniorLife: $8k → 14%CJE SeniorLife: $8k → 14%CJE SeniorLife: $6k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
NY
WY
PA
NJ
CA
CO
VA
MD
DC
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of Washington Square Health Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 97% of the giving stays in IL; by stated purpose, 91%.

Washington Square Health Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.8M · 91 repeat orgs$873k to everyone else

91 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2025, 55 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

91
62

Total granted

$4.8M
$727k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+37%

Still filing today

70%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $146k 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
HealthHuman ServicesEducationHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyFood & NutritionOther
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

  • Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
    9× · 2017–2025 · $614k · revenue +60%
  • AS
    A SILVER LINING FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $379k · revenue +37%
  • RI
    Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
    6× · 2017–2025 · $292k · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • FC
    Family Chrstian
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
  • HH
    Horizon Hospice
    one grant, 2017 · $78k
  • LU
    LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGOgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $47k · revenue +39%
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
Uchicago Medicine Network Inc

Uchicago medicine network, inc. supports and encourages health and human service by providing support, directly or indirectly to ingalls memorial hospital, the university of chicago medical center, and other related tax-exempt…

Health
2
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
3
Endeavor Health Clinical Operations

Endeavor Health Clinical Operations follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
4
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group

Northwestern memorial healthcare is an integrated healthcare system, consisting of multiple hospitals (including northwestern memorial hospital, an academic medical center) and networks of physicians and healthcare professionals, where the…

Health
5
Edward Hospital

Edward Hospital follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
6
Loyola University Medical Center

We, loyola university health system and trinity health, serve together in the spirit of the gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.lumc is a member of loyola university health system and trinity…

Health
7
Holy Cross Hospital

The hospital is a catholic health care organization sponsored by the sisters of st. casimir. by our commitment to witness to the healing mission of jesus, we contribute to healthy communities and promote quality health care to all with…

Health
8
Children's Hospital of Chicago Medical Center

We are dedicated to the health and well-being of all children. as the pediatric teaching facility for the northwestern university feinberg school of medicine, this commitment drives us to be a leader in: -pediatric health care delivery…

Health
9
Endeavor Health Medical Group

Endeavor Health Medical Group (EHMG) follows the mission of Endeavor Health. The mission of Endeavor Health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." Central to this mission is a commitment to providing clinical programs and…

Health
10
Pediatric Faculty Foundation Inc

We value excellence and innovation in clinical and basic research, coordinated and comprehensive patient care, ongoing physician education, and evidence-based child advocacy. our goal is to provide leadership in endeavors that promote the…

Health
11
Mchc Chicago Hospital Council

The mission of mchc chicago hospital council is to foster, promote, support, develop and encourage charitable, educational, scholastic and scientific purposes; promote cooperative effort and action between hospitals and other health care…

Health
12
Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation
Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Health and Medicine Policy Research Group; the most unlike its peers is Sonoma Botanical Garden. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

117 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. 117 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
115/117
Grantees still filing
81/117
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $613,729 · HealthAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of ChicagoA SILVER LINING FOUNDATION: $378,750 · HealthA SILVER LINING FOUNDATIONGILDA'S CLUB CHICAGO: $303,500 · HealthGILDA'S CLUB CHICAGORehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $292,456 · HealthRehabilitation Institute of ChicagoADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $182,082 · HealthADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONROSELAND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $128,007 · HealthLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $114,245 · HealthCommunity Health NFP: $94,940 · HealthMOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER: $94,000 · Health+24 more: $459,727 · Health+24 moreNorthShore University HealthSystem Research Institute: $137,619 · OtherNorthShore University HealthSystem Rese…St Anthony Hospital: $100,000 · OtherFamily Chrstian: $100,000 · OtherRosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science: $87,500 · OtherHoward Brown Health Center: $86,944 · OtherChicago Diabetes Project: $81,021 · OtherThe Children's Clinic: $79,132 · OtherHorizon Hospice: $77,854 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $75,000 · Other+91 more: $1,138,109 · Other+91 moreElea Institute: $132,000 · Human ServicesElea Inst…CHICAGO CHESED FUND: $112,588 · Human ServicesCHICAGO C…POLISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION: $57,000 · Human ServicesPOLISH AM…THE NIGHT MINISTRY: $41,150 · Human ServicesTHE NIGHT…ORCHARD VILLAGE: $40,166 · Human ServicesORCHARD V…COUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY: $22,306 · Human ServicesCLEARBROOK: $15,971 · Human Services+7 more: $43,867 · Human Services+7 morePRIMO CENTER FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN: $61,321 · EducationLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $47,234 · EducationIllinois College of Optometry: $45,000 · EducationUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $30,000 · EducationNORTH PARK UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · EducationTORAH ACADEMY OF BUFFALO GROVE: $8,435 · Education+4 more: $13,500 · EducationLESTER AND ROSALIE ANIXTER CENTER: $82,290 · Housing & ShelterMERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT: $50,000 · Housing & ShelterLINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY SERVICES: $13,000 · Housing & ShelterNORTH SIDE HOUSING AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES: $7,025 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $1,000 · Housing & ShelterNorthwestern University: $110,000 · Recreation & Sports+2 more: $2,500 · Recreation & SportsCouncil on Foundations Inc: $26,800 · PhilanthropyGRANTMAKERS IN HEALTH: $19,275 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyFOREFRONT: $5,441 · Philanthropy+3 more: $4,500 · Philanthropy
Health$2,661,436Other$1,963,179Human Services$465,048Education$230,490Housing & Shelter$153,315Recreation & Sports$112,500Philanthropy$66,016

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 budgetAnn & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago: $613,729 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetA SILVER LINING FOUNDATION: $378,750 over 9y, 10% of budgetGILDA'S CLUB CHICAGO: $303,500 over 9y, 3.7% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago: $292,456 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $182,082 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetElea Institute: $132,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetROSELAND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: $128,007 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLa Rabida Children's Hospital: $114,245 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO CHESED FUND: $112,588 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetNorthwestern University: $110,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCommunity Health NFP: $94,940 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER: $94,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science: $87,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHoward Brown Health Center: $86,944 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetLESTER AND ROSALIE ANIXTER CENTER: $82,290 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetHEALTH AND MEDICINE POLICY RESEARCH GROUP: $64,320 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetSECOND SENSE: $64,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetPRIMO CENTER FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN: $61,321 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetAlexian Brothers Bonaventure House: $57,750 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetPOLISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION: $57,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC: $52,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT: $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEASTER SEALS METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $48,930 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $47,234 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCELLMATES ON THE RUN FOUNDATION: $45,964 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetIllinois College of Optometry: $45,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NIGHT MINISTRY: $41,150 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetORCHARD VILLAGE: $40,166 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetKESHET: $39,685 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMcDermott Center: $36,337 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO: $35,650 over 5y, 8.1% of budgetErie Family Health Center Inc: $35,495 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetZACHARIAS SEXUAL ABUSE CENTER: $35,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetACCESS COMMUNITY HEALTH NETWORK: $27,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNOURISHING HOPE: $27,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCouncil on Foundations Inc: $26,800 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WOMAN'S BOARD OF NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: $26,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetNear North Health Service Corporation: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSwedish Covenant Health: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSaint Anthony Hospital: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH PARK UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMOBILE CARE FOUNDATION: $24,818 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCOUNCIL FOR JEWISH ELDERLY: $22,306 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFRANCISCAN TERTIARY PROVINCE OF THE SACRED HEART INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.2% 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.

  • Who funds Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds A SILVER LINING FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GILDA'S CLUB CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds ADVOCATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Elea Institute ↗
  • Who funds ROSELAND COMMUNITY HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds La Rabida Children's Hospital ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO CHESED FUND ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds Community Health NFP ↗
  • Who funds MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science ↗
  • Who funds Howard Brown Health Center ↗
  • Who funds LESTER AND ROSALIE ANIXTER CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HEALTH AND MEDICINE POLICY RESEARCH GROUP ↗
  • Who funds SECOND SENSE ↗
  • Who funds PRIMO CENTER FOR WOMEN & CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds Alexian Brothers Bonaventure House ↗
  • Who funds POLISH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE INC ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH URBAN MINISTRIES INC ↗
  • Who funds MERCY HOUSING LAKEFRONT ↗
  • Who funds EASTER SEALS METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC ↗
  • Who funds LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds CELLMATES ON THE RUN FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Illinois College of Optometry ↗
  • Who funds THE NIGHT MINISTRY ↗
  • Who funds ORCHARD VILLAGE ↗
  • Who funds KESHET ↗
  • Who funds McDermott Center ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO ↗

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.

United Way of Metropolitan Chicago IncIL50.8× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Inc · Circle of Service Foundation · Arie and Ida Crown Memorial · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Visiting Nurse Association of Chicago (Aka) Vna Foundation · George M Eisenberg Foundation for Charities · The Coleman Foundation Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Dr Scholl Foundation

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 Washington Square Health Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Washington Square Health Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    44report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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.

    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 172 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-PF 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

    Play a game based on Washington Square Health’s filings →

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