Minow Family Foundation
Cambridge, MA · EIN 36-6169301. Reported 101 grants totalling $2,619,280 to 63 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Minow 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $20,000; the smallest was $80 and the largest $350,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wttw | Chicago, IL | $550,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Chicago History Museum | Chicago, IL | $370,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Osher Lifelong Learning Institute | Evanston, IL | $250,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | $175,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| WGBH Educational Foundation | Boston, MA | $120,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mayo Clinic | Eau Claire, WI | $102,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Rand Corporation | Santa Monica, CA | $102,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Chicago Sinai Congregation | Chicago, IL | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Northwestern Hillel | Evanston, IL | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, IN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston | Boston, MA | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Jewish Communal Fund | New York, NY | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Nnmjbm Plant for Our Children | Omaha, NE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Shriver Center on Poverty Law | Chicago, IL | $52,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Ravinia Festival | Highland Park, IL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice | New York, NY | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| WGBH Education Fund | Boston, MA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish United Fund | Chicago, IL | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jewish Federation of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Northwestern University School of Law | Evanston, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Beyond Legal Aid | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Kanoon Magnet School | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Millenium Park Foundation | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Catholic Theological Union | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Depaul University | Chicago, IL | $10,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Chicago Council on Global Affairs | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Newberry Library | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library | Springfield, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lincoln Presidential Foundation | Springfield, IL | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Big Shoulders Fund | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Golden Apple Foundation | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Legal Aid Chicago | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Propublica Illinois | New York, NY | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Shirley Ryan Ability Lab | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| University of Chicago Institute of Politics | Chicago, IL | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| National Museum of American Jewish History | Philadelphia, PA | $1,800 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Injustice Watch | Chicago, IL | $1,250 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Chicago Bar Foundation | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Common Sense Media | San Francisco, CA | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Hias | Silver Spring, MD | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Leo Catholic High School | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Misericordia | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrations | New York, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Spertus Institute | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Storycorps Honor Society | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Storycorps Honor Society | Brooklyn, NY | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Jacob Rader Marcus Center | Cincinnati, OH | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Top Box Foods | Chicago, IL | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy | Libertyville, IL | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Ani Shushi - Good People Fund | Millburn, NJ | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Good People Fund | Millburn, NJ | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| American Diabetes Association | Arlington, VA | $400 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Sidley Austin Fund for Kanoon School | Chicago, IL | $400 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| American Constitution Society | Washington, DC | $350 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Cocktails and Caregivers | Westfield, IN | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| John F Kennedy Library Foundation | Boston, MA | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Lace 'em Up Nfp | Glen Ellen, IL | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Touro Synagogue Foundation | Newport, RI | $200 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Dubuque Wrestling Club | Dubuque, IA | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Jude Childrens Research Hospital | Memphis, TN | $100 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The National Wwii Museum | New Orleans, LA | $80 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
30 of 63 (48%) 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 21%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 59 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 39 | $205,050 | $1,000 |
| 2022 | 38 | $268,900 | $1,000 |
| 2023 | 13 | $1,185,330 | $100,000 |
| 2024 | 11 | $960,000 | $75,000 |
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
71% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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 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 foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Illinois.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Minow Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 75 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge, MA, 02138. 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 36-6169301 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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