From 19th-century agriculture tycoon Cyrus McCormick to billionaire Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner, Chicago has always been awash with wealth and power. The city also has a long legacy of philanthropy, with entrepreneur Marshall Field and suffragette Jane Addams being among the many donors and social activists who made their impact on the region.
The Windy City’s giving landscape includes a range of major legacy foundations like the nationally prominent MacArthur Foundation, alongside smaller but still notable grantmakers like the Joyce Foundation, the Woods Fund Chicago (which we just covered in light of its plans to up its payout rate to 16%) and the regionally focused Robert R. McCormick Foundation, to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Community Trust is another major player: The community foundation serves Chicago, suburban Cook County and several other Illinois counties. Started in 1915 by Norman Wait Harris, founder of the Harris Trust and Savings Bank, and his son Albert Wadsworth Harris, it’s among the largest community foundations in the country, with more than $4.1 billion in assets in 2022.
According to a recent Fidelity Charitable report, a 2023 breakdown of Chicago giving through Fidelity donor-advised funds showed human services, religion, education and health as the top four causes that appealed to Chicago donors. Most popular grantees, meanwhile, included Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago Public Media, the Salvation Army and Northern Illinois Food Bank.
In several of our last regional donor rundowns, we looked at individual donors and couples, including some of the top philanthropists in Seattle, Houston and South Florida. For this rundown, we’ll focus specifically on top families based in Chicago or who give prominently there. Some of these families are large and in the public eye, like the Pritzker clan, but there are plenty of other lesser-known philanthropic families in the Windy City to consider, as well.
The Crown Family
With a collective net worth of nearly $15 billion as of 2024, the descendants of Chicago financier Henry Crown have their fingerprints on real estate, manufacturing firms, ski resorts and plenty more. American industrialist and philanthropist Henry Crown started the building supplies company Material Service Corporation in 1919, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959. The family still owns 10% of General Dynamics.
The family’s most prominent charitable vehicle is Crown Family Philanthropies. Born out of the family’s older foundation Arie and Ida Crown Memorial (named after Henry’s Lithuanian immigrant parents), Crown Family Philanthropies is led by more than 50 family members across multiple generations. The foundation focuses on education, the environment, global health, gun violence prevention, health and human services, and Jewish causes. Its education portfolio works especially on closing systemic opportunity gaps from pre-K to college in Chicago, and its gun violence work centers on the region, as well.
Family members, including Bill and Tammy Crown, also engage in separate giving. “My husband and I have been deeply involved in philanthropy for 20 years now, ever since we got married,” Tammy Crown told me last February. The couple have focused on global environmental issues as well as local issues around poverty, inequality and education in the Bay Area, where they live.
The Pritzker Family
The Pritzker family had a nearly $42 billion collective net worth in 2024. With more than 10 billionaire family members, some of the Pritzkers are well known in politics. The family’s wealth traces back to patriarch Naphtali ben Yakov Pritzker, who arrived in Chicago in the early 1880s as a penniless Jewish immigrant from Ukraine. He taught himself English, worked his way through law school, and launched a thriving law firm. Today, the billionaire Pritzker clan derive their fortune from the Hyatt hotel chain and investments. The philanthropy of the wider Pritzker clan is extensive — the following are only highlights.
The world’s only known trans billionaire, retired Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Pritzker runs the Tawani Foundation, which focuses on military history, the environment, cultural institutions, and health and human rights. Recent grants have gone to Chicago Symphony Orchestra ($1 million), A Silver Lining Foundation, which funds cost-free breast health tests for underprivileged women and men, and Chicago Cultural Alliance. “What, precisely, is a transgender person, and what does it involve? What’s important to them? What do they need? I think it would demystify them and help people understand that the majority of them are basically no different than anyone else,” Pritzker told me in 2020 about her focus on LGBTQ causes.
Penny Pritzker is another prominent Pritzker billionaire, and served as secretary of commerce under President Barack Obama. Her Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation, co-run with her husband Bryan Traubert, focuses on providing economic opportunities to all Chicagoans, and also awards the Chicago Prize to support community leaders.
Her younger brother, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, founded private investment firm Pritzker Group and started the Pritzker Family Foundation with his wife M.K. Pritzker. The foundation’s Pritzker Children’s Initiative focuses on early childhood, while another effort supports women’s health in the Chicago area, including Evergreen Invitational, which supports women’s health programs and research studies at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The family’s philanthropies aren’t confined to the Chicago area. Billionaire Montana resident Linda Pritzker, who also goes by Lama Tsomo, launched a charity focused on Buddhist meditation practice and retreats. And the California-based Nicholas and Susan Pritzker started the social-justice-focused Libra Foundation, while their daughter Regan Pritzker founded another progressive giving outfit, the Kataly Foundation.
Mellody Hobson and George Lucas
May the Force be with you. Chicago native Mellody Hobson serves as co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments in Chicago and married billionaire filmmaker George Lucas in 2013. The couple makes grants through the Hobson Lucas Family Foundation, which was formerly known as the George Lucas Family Foundation and held more than $1 billion in assets in recent years, as well as through the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Hobson has shown a particular interest in education and financial literacy. She serves as chair of After School Matters, a nonprofit that supports Chicago teens, and is a board member of the Chicago Public Education Fund.
The Code Family
Cofounder of Promus Holdings and Promus Equity Partners in Chicago, Andy Code, along with his wife Susan and their family, conduct their philanthropy through the Code Family Foundation. The Codes strongly prioritize Chicagoland and the Midwest in their giving. A top interest is supporting religious organizations: Code is among the founders of Chicago Fellowship, a religious nonprofit for men. The family has strongly supported Young Life, a nondenominational Christian ministry that works with youth.
The Reyes Family
The Reyes family has roots in Chicago dating back to the 1970s, and the J. Christopher and Anne N. Reyes Foundation makes many of its grants in the Chicago area, focusing on health, arts and culture and education. Reyes Holdings is a global producer and distributor of food and beverage products based in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Billionaire J. Christopher Reyes and his wife Anne have recently supported the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lurie Children’s Hospital.
The Primo Family
Harvard MBA Quintin E. Primo III cofounded Capri Capital Partners, a real estate investment management firm headquartered in Chicago. South Side native Diane Primo, meanwhile, founded IntraLink Global, a P.R. and social content agency. The couple serve as co-chairs of the Primo Center for Women and Children in Chicago, which they support. They’ve also given gifts to Chicago Community Trust, Art Institute of Chicago, and other local institutions.
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The Sacks Family
Founded in 2001 and based in Highland Park, the Sacks Family Foundation was established by Grosvenor Capital Management CEO Michael Sacks and his wife, Cari, an art collector. Sacks’ education grantmaking includes a $5 million gift early in the decade to Northwestern University and a $1 million gift to the Art Institute of Chicago for the creation of need-based Sacks Family Scholarships. In K-12 education, the foundation also endowed college scholarships for Chicago Public Schools graduates. The couple have a local interest in the arts, health and Jewish causes, and they have also supported the Obama Foundation to the tune of millions.
The Bluhm Family
Raised modestly, Neil Bluhm worked at a Chicago law firm where he eventually made partner. He then branched out to real estate, and today, the now-billionaire owns marquee shopping territory along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, some of Chicago’s top hotels, and properties in Houston and Los Angeles. Now divorced, Bluhm runs the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation with his children, including Leslie Bluhm, founder of Chicago Cares. The family has made a number of major eight-figure gifts through their foundation, including $45 million to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to establish the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Heart Hospital, and $25 million to the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in 2018.
The Ryan Family
With more than $13 billion to his name, Patrick Ryan is the CEO and founder of Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Holdings, a wholesale brokerage and specialty insurance firm. Ryan and his wife, Shirley, are among the largest benefactors of their shared alma mater Northwestern University, including with a $480 million gift in 2021. The couple’s children — including Patrick Jr., Robert and Corbett, who suffers from cerebral palsy — are also involved with their Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation. The foundation supports Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which specializes in rehabilitation for adults and children with the most severe, complex conditions ranging from traumatic brain and spinal cord injury to stroke, amputation and cancer-related impairment. It has also supported the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Chicago. Other recent grantees include Accelerate Institute, which works with youth; Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The Walter Family
Billionaire couple Kimbra and Mark Walter are advocates for conservation, social equity and education. Mark Walter is a cofounder and CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, which has more than $300 billion in assets under management. Like the Ryans, the Walters are strong supporters of Northwestern University, where Mark got his JD. The family’s umbrella organization, The Walter Family Causes, supports organizations like OneGoal, which promotes postsecondary education, Chicago High School for the Arts and Lincoln Park Zoo. The Walter Family Foundation is the grantmaking arm of TWF Causes.
The Mansueto Family
Billionaire Joe Mansueto started independent investment research firm Morningstar in 1984 with $80,000 in savings. He served as CEO of the firm for some three decades, amassing a fortune in the meantime. The Mansueto Foundation supports the work of educational, health and creative institutions. He and his wife Rika founded the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at his alma mater, the University of Chicago. The Mansueto High School, meanwhile, is a public charter school in Brighton Park, on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
The Lefkofsky Family
Billionaire Eric Lefkofsky has been active as an entrepreneur for decades, including founding Groupon, and now helms Tempus, which uses data to improve cancer treatment. Now 55, Lefkofsky has also long been involved in philanthropy. In 2006, Eric and his wife Liz formed the Lefkofsky Family Foundation when they moved to the Chicago suburbs to start raising their children. Several years after that, they signed the Giving Pledge. The foundation aims to “advance high-impact initiatives that enhance the quality of human life.” Grantees have included Chicago Public Education Fund, ACLU of Illinois, and Steppenwolf Theater.
The Uihlein Family
Low-profile billionaire Richard Uihlein is the CEO of Uline, a major distributor of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies, which he started with his wife Elizabeth. Among the top conservative political donors in the country, they’ve given over $300 million to candidates in federal races, per FEC filings. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation has a similar bent, with larger think tanks like American Enterprise Institute receiving support. But it has also supported organizations like Teach for America in Chicago.
The Griffin Family
Mega-billionaire Ken Griffin founded and runs Citadel, a Miami-based hedge fund firm that manages $66 billion in assets as of December 2024. Citadel once called Chicagoland home, and the city has long been an important philanthropic focus for Griffin, though his giving is increasingly centered on his new home region. Before his relocation to South Florida, he committed $130 million in 2022 to 40 local Chicago organizations. Before his divorce in 2015, he also steadily supported Chicago institutions through the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation.
