FundersIllinois

The Schnitzer Family Foundation

Chicago, IL · EIN 36-3486315. Reported 124 grants totalling $336,128 to 42 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$336,128granted, 2021-2024
42organizations funded
88%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,137,496assets, 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. The Schnitzer Family 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $2,500; the smallest was $200 and the largest $22,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
19 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
79 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
19 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
7 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
Jewish Federation of ChicagoChicago, IL$43,000222023
Midwest Access ProjectChicago, IL$30,000332024
HiasSilver Springs, MD$22,500442024
Jewish United FundChicago, IL$21,000222024
ACLUChicago, IL$20,000442024
The ArkChicago, IL$20,000442024
Greater Chicago Food DepositoryChicago, IL$17,500442024
Kam Isaiah Israel CongregationChicago, IL$16,305442024
Benedictine FoundationRidgely, MD$12,500442024
Southern Poverty Law CenterMontgomery, AL$12,500442024
6TH and I Sinagogue DCWashington, DC$11,000442024
Field MuseumChicago, IL$10,000442024
Temple Beth JacobConcord, NH$9,668442024
Yivo Institute for Jewish ResearchManhattan, NY$8,000442024
University of ChicagoChicago, IL$7,500112024
University of Chicago - Oriental InstituteChicago, IL$7,500332023
Miriam's KitchenWashington, DC$5,000222022
University of Chicago - Center for Jewish StudiesChicago, IL$4,500332023
Jewish Federation of New HampshireBedford, NH$4,055442024
League of Nh CraftsmanConcord, NH$4,000442024
Musterfield FarmNorth Sutton, NH$4,000442024
New Hampshire Humanities CouncilConcord, NH$4,000442024
University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI$4,000442024
Wbez Public RadioChicago, IL$4,000442024
Wfmt RadioChicago, IL$3,700442024
Goucher HillelBaltimore, MD$3,000332023
Northwestern University - Feinberg School of MedicineChicago, IL$3,000332023
Wttw Public TelevisionChicago, IL$3,000332023
Goucher CollegeBaltimore, MD$2,500112024
Morton ArboretumLisle, IL$2,500332024
Planned ParenthoodChicago, IL$2,500112021
Rheumatology Research FoundationAtlanta, GA$2,500332023
University of Chicago - HillelChicago, IL$2,500332023
Mcdonogh SchoolOwings Mills, MD$2,000442024
Mikva Challenge FoundationChicago, IL$1,500222022
Jewish Community Center DCWashington, DC$1,000112021
Northwestern UniversityEvanston, IL$1,000112024
Currier Museum of ArtManchester, NH$800332023
Kearsarge ChoraleNew London, NH$750222024
Arthritis FoundationChicago, IL$500112023
Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire ForestsConcord, NH$500112024
Casey TreesWashington, DC$350112024

34 of 42 (81%) 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 88%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. 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 the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 60 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Religion
8 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
8 grants
Arts & Culture
6 grants
Education
6 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Food & Nutrition
4 grants
International Affairs
4 grants
Environment
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202133$73,925$1,000
202231$86,350$1,000
202332$90,000$1,000
202428$85,853$2,150

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. 66% 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
$222K
Maryland
$42K
New Hampshire
$28K
District of Columbia
$17K
Alabama
$12K
New York
$8K
Michigan
$4K
Georgia
$2K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund16 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program14 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc13 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc13 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation11 shared recipientsT Rowe Price Program for Charitable10 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. 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 education in IllinoisEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from The Schnitzer Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 910 S Laflin Street, Chicago, IL, 60607. 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 36-3486315 · 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.