Bears Care
Lake Forest, IL · EIN 20-3902715. Reported 68 grants totalling $10.1M to 56 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Bears Care, the IRS classifies it as a fundraising and fund-distribution organization (NTEE T12).
- How spread out its giving is. 56 distinct organizations, with 21% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 100% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $30,000. Half of what it reported fell between $12,500 and $207,500; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $741,100. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
3 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $1,031,864 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other (see Attachment) | $2,103,719 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Youth and Family (see Attachment) | $1,403,042 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Education (see Attachment) | $1,397,843 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Other (see Statement) | $1,031,864 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Athletics (see Attachment) | $904,553 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Health (see Attachment) | $687,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 | |
| Rush University Medical Center | Chicago, IL | $520,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Northwestern Memorial Healthcare | Chicago, IL | $203,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hope Chicago Inc | Chicago, IL | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Northshore University Healthsystem | Arlington Hts, IL | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $170,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chicago Parks Foundation | Chicago, IL | $155,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Big Shoulders Fund | Chicago, IL | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Les Turner Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Foundation | Skokie, IL | $78,133 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| B U I L D Incorporated | Chicago, IL | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Youth Guidance | Chicago, IL | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Urban Growers Collective Inc | Chicago, IL | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation | Chicago, IL | $55,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Imagine Englewood If Nfp | Chicago, IL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Midtown-Metro Achievement Centers | Chicago, IL | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago | Chicago, IL | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Gildas Club Chicago | Chicago, IL | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Ronald Mcdonald House Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana | Hines, IL | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Rockford Park District Foundation | Rockford, IL | $27,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Adler Planetarium | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Field Museum of Natural History | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Northern Illinois Food Bank | Geneva, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Shedd Aquarium Society | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Inc | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Allendale Association | Lake Villa, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| The Methodist Hospitals Inc | Gary, IN | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| YWCA Metropolitan Chicago | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Advocate Charitable Foundation | Downers Grove, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Beyond the Ball Nfp | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Culinary Care | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Leo High School | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sisters Working It Out Nfp | Matteson, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Recovery on Water Inc | Chicago, IL | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American Heart Association Inc | Dallas, TX | $11,205 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Asociacion Latina De Asistencia Y Prevencion Del Cancer De Mama | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Clearbrook | Arlington Hts, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Glenbard Township High School District 87 | Glen Ellyn, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jennifer S Fallick Cancer Support Center | Homewood, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lemons of Love Inc | Des Plaines, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness Initiative | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Inc | Irving, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Resurrection Project | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Role Model Movement Inc Nfp | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sisters Network | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| USA Football | Indianapolis, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wellness House | Hinsdale, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Young Black & Lit | Evanston, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Township High School District 211 | Palatine, IL | $9,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| School District U-46 | Elgin, IL | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Chicago Food Depository | Chicago, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
6 of 56 (11%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Rush University Medical Center
TO SUPPORT THE ROAD HOME PROGRAM: THE NATIONAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES AT RUSH - Northwestern Memorial Foundation
2024 WOMEN'S CANCER RESEARCH GRANTS FAT MASS AND OBESITY ASSOCIATED GENE AND HIGHGRADE SEROUS OVARIAN CANCER - Endeavor Health Clinical Operations
2024 WOMEN'S CANCER RESEARCH GRANTS OVARIAN CANCER PREVENTION RESEARCH PROGRAM - The University of Chicago
2024 WOMEN'S CANCER RESEARCH GRANTS OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH, REPRODUCTIVE ATLAS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND HISPANIC WOMEN, GYN/ONC FELLOWSHIP N APPLYING AI TO DIGITAL PATHOLOGY, BREAST CANCER RESEARCH CONSORTIUM - Big Shoulders Fund
TO SUPPORT THE IMPROVEMENT OF STUDENT OUTCOMES, COLLEGE ACCESS, AND SUCCESS FOR LEO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND GRADUATES. - Les Turner Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Foundation
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT IN HONOR OF STEVE MCMICHAEL'S ELECTION TO THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 39 of 56 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | $2,258,999 | $334,915 |
| 2022 | 6 | $2,622,164 | $446,229 |
| 2023 | 6 | $2,647,358 | $419,000 |
| 2024 | 50 | $2,584,338 | $20,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
98% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
9 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 17 grants totalling $253,133 to Bears Care. That is 60% of the 15 funders we can see giving to it. Those 9 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a grantmaking organization.
5 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Kadens Family Foundation | Delaware | $110,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Jane W and David M Stone Charitable | Illinois | $37,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Kevin & Greta Warren Family Foundation | Minnesota | $36,213 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| The Portes Foundation | Illinois | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Harry F Chaddick and Elaine | Illinois | $21,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Horejsi Charitable Foundation Inc | Kansas | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Isadore & Sadie Dorin Foundation Inc | California | $3,247 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Amazonsmile Foundation | Washington | $148 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| The Yelp Foundation | California | $25 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $30,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Illinois.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Bears Care's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 50 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1920 Football Drive, Lake Forest, IL, 60045.
EIN 20-3902715 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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