The Chicago Bar Foundation
Chicago, IL · EIN 36-6109584. Reported 186 grants totalling $33.2M to 58 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 Chicago Bar Foundation, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B990) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 58 distinct organizations, with 23% 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. 89% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 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 $33,250. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $93,093; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $2,209,850. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services | Chicago, IL | $7,674,819 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Center for Conflict Resolution | Chicago, IL | $5,003,236 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Legal Aid Chicago | Chicago, IL | $4,619,552 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation | Chicago, IL | $3,304,533 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Law Center for Better Housing | Chicago, IL | $3,055,992 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Greater Chicago Legal Clinic Inc | Chicago, IL | $2,054,308 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Center for Disability and Elder Law Inc | Chicago, IL | $1,825,127 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Metropolitan Family Services | Merrionette Park, IL | $1,268,170 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Chicago Bar Association | Chicago, IL | $362,342 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Inc | Chicago, IL | $345,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Uptown Peoples Law Center | Chicago, IL | $300,412 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Equip for Equality Inc | Chicago, IL | $269,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Legal Council for Health Justice | Chicago, IL | $266,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Shriver Center on Poverty Law | Chicago, IL | $228,672 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Cabrini-Green Legal Aid Clinic Inc | Chicago, IL | $217,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Heartland Human Care Services Inc | Chicago, IL | $214,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Ascend Justice | Chicago, IL | $212,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Illinois Bar Foundation | Springfield, IL | $170,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Life Span | Des Plaines, IL | $169,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness | Chicago, IL | $140,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Illinois Legal Aid Online | Chicago, IL | $139,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| James B Moran Center for Youth Advocacy | Evanston, IL | $120,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Chicago Alliance Against Sexualexploitation | Chicago, IL | $115,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Resurrection Project | Chicago, IL | $113,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Latinos Progresando | Chicago, IL | $102,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lawndale Christian Legal Center | Chicago, IL | $100,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago | Chicago, IL | $95,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lawyers for the Creative Arts | Chicago, IL | $85,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Impact for Equity Inc | Chicago, IL | $75,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU Inc | Chicago, IL | $72,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Centro Romero | Chicago, IL | $65,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| World Relief Corporation O National | Baltimore, MD | $58,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Nijc Nfp | Chicago, IL | $57,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic | Highland Park, IL | $57,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| University of Denver | Denver, CO | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Chicago Community Foundation | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Illinois Equal Justice Foundation | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Ladder Up | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Michael Reese Health Trust | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| First Defense Legal Aid | Chicago, IL | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights | Chicago, IL | $12,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Cba Media and Civic Education Inc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Pro Bono Network | Oak Park, IL | $7,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| United States Catholic Conference | Washington, DC | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| American Bar Association | Chicago, IL | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project | Chicago, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation Inc | Chicago, IL | $6,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Allies for Community Business Inc | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Forefront | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Just the Beginning - a Pipeline Organization | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Legal Action Chicago LLC | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Legal Prep Charter Academies | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Raised the Floor Alliance | Chicago, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Chicago Bankruptcy Help Desk Foundation Nfp | Chicago, IL | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Credit Abuse Resistance Education | Alexandria, VA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Loyola University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Metropolitan Tenants Organization | Chicago, IL | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
43 of 58 (74%) 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.
- Carpls
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT, GOVERNMENT/PROJECT GRANT, & PROJECT SUPPORT - Center for Conflict Resolution
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT, PROJECT SUPPORT & GOVERNMENT/PROJECT GRANT - Law Center for Better Housing
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT & GOVERNMENT/PROJECT GRANT - Chicago Volunteer Legal Services
GENERAL OPERATING AND PROJECT SUPPORT & GOVERNMENT PROJECT/GRANT - Center for Disability & Elder Law
PROJECT SUPPORT & GOVERNMENT PROJECT/GRANT - Uptown Peoples Law Center
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT & PROJECT SUPPORT
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 43 of 58 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 | 37 | $3,175,272 | $28,000 |
| 2021 | 30 | $5,812,428 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 35 | $7,318,437 | $60,000 |
| 2023 | 32 | $7,323,624 | $23,750 |
| 2024 | 52 | $9,526,902 | $21,250 |
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
100% 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.
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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 $33,250 -- 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 The Chicago Bar 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 50 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 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: 321 South Plymouth Court 3B, Chicago, IL, 60604.
EIN 36-6109584 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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