Pillars Fund
Chicago, IL · EIN 81-0983087. Reported 142 grants totalling $7,580,000 to 60 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 Pillars Fund, the IRS classifies it as a fundraising and fund-distribution organization (NTEE T12).
- How spread out its giving is. 60 distinct organizations, with 6% 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. 81% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $50,000. Half of what it reported fell between $25,000 and $75,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $155,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner-City Muslim Action Network | Chicago, IL | $485,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The City University of New York School of Law Foundation Inc | Long Island City, NY | $455,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Muslim Wellness Foundation Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $435,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Detroit Revival Engaging American Muslims | Detroit, MI | $425,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Georgia Muslim Voter Project | Atlanta, GA | $410,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Allied Media Projects Inc | Detroit, MI | $405,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Institute for Social Policy and Understanding | Dearborn, MI | $380,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Pillars of the Community | San Diego, CA | $330,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative | Alta Loma, CA | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Sirat Chicago | Chicago, IL | $255,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| New Leaders | New York, NY | $230,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Neo Philanthropy Inc | New York, NY | $190,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Defending Rights and Dissent Inc | Washington, DC | $185,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Faith in Action Network | Oakland, CA | $180,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Il Muslim Civic Coalition | Chicago, IL | $180,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| International Museum of Muslim Culture | Jackson, MS | $180,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment | Minneapolis, MN | $180,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | Stanford, CA | $180,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Action Center on Race and the Economy Institute | Chicago, IL | $170,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Appellate Project Inc | Washington, DC | $170,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Community Partners | Los Angeles, CA | $170,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Project South the Institution for the Elimination Poverty & Genocide | Atlanta, GA | $155,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Emgage Foundation Inc | Lakeland, FL | $140,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Women Make Movies Inc | New York, NY | $135,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | $125,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Huron University College Foundation USA | Buffalo, NY | $105,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Malikah Inc | Astoria, NY | $80,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Maristan | Fremont, CA | $80,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| American Muslim Health Professionals | Rolling Meadows, IL | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Institute for Social Policy | Dearborn, MI | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild Inc | Washington, DC | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Manara West | Orange, CA | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Global Deaf Muslim USA | Alexandria, VA | $55,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| National Partnership for New Americans Inc | Chicago, IL | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| American Muslim Advisory Council | Nashville, TN | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Project South | Atlanta, GA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Blue Tin Production LLC | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Maine Peoples Resource Center | Portland, ME | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Muslim Campus Life Corporation | Winchester, MA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of California San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Yemeni American Merchants Associations Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| International Council for Refugees and Immigrants Inc | Omaha, NE | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Muslim Advocates | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Muslim Community Network Inc | New York, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Yusra | Tucson, AZ | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Talent Agency | Beverly Hills, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Asian American Journalists Association | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Black Muslim Leadership Counc | King of Prussia, PA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chicago Humanities Festival | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Initiatives | Oakland, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Education for Just Peace in the Middle East | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Indiana University Foundation | Bloomington, IN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Leading Productive Lives LLC | Dallas, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Muhsen | Oakbrook, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Muppies Inc | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sahaba Initiative Inc | Sn Bernrdno, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trustees of Columbia University | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Georgia Foundation | Athens, GA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Wespac Foundation Inc | White Plains, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
33 of 60 (55%) 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 kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 50 of 60 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- 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 | 31 | $1,020,000 | $30,000 |
| 2022 | 36 | $2,100,000 | $50,000 |
| 2023 | 30 | $2,035,000 | $52,500 |
| 2024 | 45 | $2,425,000 | $50,000 |
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
20% of its giving went to organizations in California. 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.
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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 the strongest signal available 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.
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 $50,000 -- 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 California.
- 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 Pillars Fund's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 44 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 1 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: 200 W Madison Flr 3, Chicago, IL, 60606.
EIN 81-0983087 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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