The Barack Obama Foundation
Chicago, IL · EIN 46-4950751. Reported 67 grants totalling $28.3M to 37 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, 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 The Barack Obama Foundation, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A80) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 37 distinct organizations, with 27% 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. 50% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $50,000. Half of what it reported fell between $34,000 and $800,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $3,500,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gofundme Org | West Hollywood, CA | $7,685,546 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Chicago Park District | Chicago, IL | $3,500,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| National Archives Trust Fund | College Park, MD | $2,250,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Chicago Park District | Chicago, IL | $2,000,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Tides Center | San Francisco, CA | $2,000,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Urban Alliance Foundation Inc | Washington, DC | $1,483,334 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative | Chicago, IL | $1,250,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| John Jay College Foundation Inc | New York, NY | $1,250,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Educational Results Partnership | Sacramento, CA | $1,066,200 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| African American Empowerment Network Inc | Omaha, NE | $901,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Thrive Chicago Nfp | Chicago, IL | $891,949 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Impacttulsa Inc | Tulsa, OK | $800,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Yonkers City School District Yonkers Public Schools | Yonkers, NY | $800,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Youthbuild Newark Inc | Newark, NJ | $800,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago | Chicago, IL | $157,662 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| New Life Centers of Chicagoland Nfp | Chicago, IL | $101,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Youth Guidance | Chicago, IL | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The National Archives Assembly | College Park, MD | $99,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Liberty Hill Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $87,500 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| B U I L D Incorporated | Chicago, IL | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Centers for Family Development Incorporated | Detroit, MI | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Lawndale Christian Legal Center | Chicago, IL | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Naca-Inspired Schools Network | Albuquerque, NM | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Orlando Community & Youth Trust Inc | Orlando, FL | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Puerto Rico Community Foundation Inc | San Juan, PR | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Ryse Inc | Richmond, CA | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Youth Leadership Institute | San Francisco, CA | $84,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| South Shore Drill Team & Performing Arts Ensemble | Chicago, IL | $70,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Civic Heart Community Services | Houston, TX | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Juma Ventures | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Mass Mentoring Partnership Inc | Boston, MA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Nepperhan Community Center Inc | Yonkers, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Sierra Health Foundation Center for Health Program Management | Sacramento, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Mentoring Center | Oakland, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Fund for Public Schools Inc | New York, NY | $37,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Champs Male Mentoring Program - Chirise | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Gary Comer Youth Center | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
22 of 37 (59%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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.
- Chicago Park District
SUPPORT RELOCATION OF THE CHICAGO PARK DISTRICT TRACK IN JACKSON PARK. - Gofundmeorg
SUPPORT GRASSROOTS LEADERS TO EMPOWER GIRLS THROUGH EDUCATION. - Educational Results Partnership
DEVELOP APPROACH TO ANALYZE DATA REGARDING BOYS AND YOUNG MEN OF COLOR. - Tides Center
SUPPORT LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE WORKING TO REDUCE VIOLENCE IN COMMUNITIES. - John Jay College Foundation Inc
SUPPORT FOR MBK CONNECT INITIATIVE AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE . - Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative
SUPPORT THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 27 of 37 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 22 | $2,325,200 | $50,000 |
| 2021 | 16 | $5,174,151 | $34,000 |
| 2022 | 8 | $4,353,903 | $690,000 |
| 2023 | 15 | $9,348,573 | $750,000 |
| 2024 | 6 | $7,140,864 | $1,000,000 |
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
39% 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.
Down to the city
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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.
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Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Barack Obama Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 6 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: 5235 South Harper Court No 1140, Chicago, IL, 60615.
EIN 46-4950751 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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