FundersIllinois

Charles G and Rheta Kramer Foundation

Northbrook, IL · EIN 36-6055012. Reported 59 grants totalling $290,400 to 29 organizations across tax years 2020-2023. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,500median grant
$290,400granted, 2020-2023
29organizations funded
59%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,468,342assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Charles G and Rheta Kramer Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $3,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $6,500; the smallest was $500 and the largest $22,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
36 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
11 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Ravinia FestivalHighland Park, IL$40,500442023
Jewish United FundChicago, IL$39,500442023
Chicago Botanic GardensGlencoe, IL$34,500222023
Arizona Music Festival FoundationSan Diego, CA$21,000332023
Museum of Contemporary ArtChicago, IL$20,400442023
Highland Park Art CenterHighland Park, IL$17,000332022
Digestive Health FoundationChicago, IL$13,600332023
National Multiple Sclerosis SocietyNew York, NY$13,500332022
Am ShalomGlencoe, IL$13,400442023
Misericordia HomeChicago, IL$13,000442023
Chicago Botanical GardensGlencoe, IL$12,000112020
Chicago Jewish Day SchoolChicago, IL$10,500332022
Chicago Architecture BiennialChicago, IL$7,000222023
College Bound OpportunitiesRiverwoods, IL$4,000222021
Cps LivesChicago, IL$4,000222022
Arizonia Music Festival FoundationSan Diego, CA$3,500112020
Baptist Health FoundationLittle Rock, AR$3,500222022
Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth ElohimDeerfield, IL$3,000112023
Scottsdale Center for Performing ArtsScottsdale, AZ$3,000112020
Jewish Council for Youth ServicesChicago, IL$2,500112021
Miami Cancer ResearchCoral Gables, FL$2,500112020
Sinai Health SystemChicago, IL$2,000112023
District 113 Education FoundationLemont, IL$1,500112020
A Safe PlaceWarren, PA$1,000112020
Briarwood Scholarship FoundationDeerfield, IL$1,000112023
Chicago Shakespeare TheaterChicago, IL$1,000112021
ClearbrookArlington Heights, IL$1,000112022
112 Education FoundationHighwood, IL$500112023
Family Focus LegacyChicago, IL$500112023

15 of 29 (52%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 59%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 41 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
12 grants
Human Services
9 grants
Education
6 grants
Religion
5 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants
Health Care
3 grants
Environment
2 grants
Youth Development
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202017$71,700$3,000
202114$62,100$3,150
202214$80,100$3,600
202314$76,500$3,750

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 83% of this one's giving went to organizations in Illinois. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Illinois
$242K
California
$24K
New York
$14K
Arkansas
$4K
Arizona
$3K
Florida
$2K
Pennsylvania
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsJewish Federation of Metropolitan15 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust14 shared recipientsThe Chicago Community Trust11 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Illinois.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in IllinoisEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in IllinoisEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Charles G and Rheta Kramer Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 666 Dundee Road Suite 1703, Northbrook, IL, 60062. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 36-6055012 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.