Chicago Bulls Charities
Chicago, IL · EIN 36-3544506. Reported 82 grants totalling $19.2M to 55 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 Chicago Bulls Charities, the IRS classifies it as a federated giving programme -- a United Way, Jewish federation, Community Chest or similar (NTEE T70Z).
- How spread out its giving is. 55 distinct organizations, with 72% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 31% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below 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 $15,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $60,000; the smallest was $5,400 and the largest $13.5M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
1 of those grants was non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $13.5M 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Inc | Chicago, IL | $13.8M | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Robert R Mccormick Foundation | Chicago, IL | $1,979,355 | 6 | 5 | 2024 |
| Spectrios Institute for Low Vision | Wheaton, IL | $971,980 | 2 | 1 | 2021 |
| Chicago Sports Alliance (mccormick Foundation) | Chicago, IL | $400,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Push for Excellence Inc | Chicago, IL | $300,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| After School Matters Inc | Chicago, IL | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Operation Hope Inc | Atlanta, GA | $242,761 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bright Star Community Outreach Corporation | Chicago, IL | $182,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Beyond the Ball Nfp | Chicago, IL | $80,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Hugs No Slugs LLC | Burr Ridge, IL | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Anti-Defamation League | New York, NY | $60,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago | Chicago, IL | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| A Better Chicago | Chicago, IL | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Greater Chicago Food Depository | Chicago, IL | $50,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Growing Home Inc | Chicago, IL | $47,978 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Champs Male Mentoring Program - Chirise | Chicago, IL | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Maafa Redemption Project | Chicago, IL | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Chicago Cares Inc | Chicago, IL | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Chicago Mobile Makers | Chicago, IL | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Simon Wiesenthal Center Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Commercial Club of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Dion S Chicago Dream Inc Nfp | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Dont Ever Give Up Inc | Cary, NC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois Inc | Skokie, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| NAMI Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Breakthrough Urban Ministries Inc | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Chicago Blackhawks Foundation | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Gildas Club Chicago | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| I Grow Chicago | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Lawndale Christian Health Center | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Noble Network of Charter Schools | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Role Model Movement Inc Nfp | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Ann & Robert H Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Imentor Incorporated | New York, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Leadership Greater Chicago Inc | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pilgrim Development Corporation | Chicago, IL | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Community Health Nfp | Chicago, IL | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Simple Good | Chicago, IL | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Aerostar Avion Institute | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Black Youth Leadership Project - Mlk Honoree | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bunker Labs | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Cara Program | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Center on Halsted | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Gray Matter Experience | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Howard Brown Health Center | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kids Rank | Highland Park, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| National Museum of Mexican Art | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Noble Network | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pilgrim Development Corp | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The 100 Club of Illinois | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Bloc | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Healing-Mlk Honoree Grant | Aurora, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Urban Juncture Foundation | Chicago, IL | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Noahs Arc Foundation | Chicago, IL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Shore Congregation Israel | Glencoe, IL | $5,400 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
15 of 55 (27%) 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.
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Inc
donation of building and land. - Spectrios Institute for the Low Vision
Program support - Accrual years 2-4 - Boys and Girls Club
5 year $50,000 Grant Commitment - Program Support
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 38 of 55 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 18 | $1,063,333 | $16,250 |
| 2021 | 14 | $1,719,001 | $12,500 |
| 2022 | 22 | $14.5M | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 14 | $671,667 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 14 | $1,197,406 | $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
Get funders for your state and cause by email
We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.
Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.
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 $15,000 -- 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 Chicago Bulls Charities's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 14 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: 1901 W Madison Street, Chicago, IL, 60612.
EIN 36-3544506 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.