McCortney Foundation
McCortney Foundation is a private foundation based in Park Ridge, Illinois. Its 2025 filing reports 20 grants totaling $130,000, with awards to organizations in Illinois, Missouri, and New York.
McCortney Foundation at a glance
In short: McCortney Foundation gave $130K across 20 grants in 2025 (avg $7K), mostly in Illinois. 15% of 2025 grantees were new. Source: 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
- Annual giving (2025)
- $130,000
- +44.4% vs 2024
- Grants made (2025)
- 20
- +17.6% vs 2024
- Average grant
- $6,500
- +22.8% vs 2024
- Median grant
- $5,000
- Total assets
- $792,123
- -6.0% vs 2024
- New grantees (estimate)
- 15% first-time grantees (3 of 20, 2025; small sample)
- Primary geography
- Illinois (51% of itemized 2025 grant dollars)
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990-PF, 2025 View filing
Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2025; updated October 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology).
How to apply to McCortney Foundation
- How to Apply
-
The foundation’s filing says it does not restrict giving to preselected organizations. It asks applicants to submit a letter with program summaries, organizational history, and information about the principals involved. Awards are mostly limited to Illinois and Missouri charities.
- Contact
Application contact: Lynette Mccortney
Mailing address: 1425 Bonita Drive, Park Ridge, IL 60068
Phone: (847) 318-6822
Application details from Grantable's research on the foundation's public materials; confirm on its website before applying.
Who McCortney Foundation funds
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2025
The largest 2025 recipient was Our Lady of Tepeyac High School ($12K). Together the top 10 received $80K.
Grant Size Distribution
87 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 87 grants of 87 (100%).
Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
The foundation’s filing says awards are mostly limited to Illinois and Missouri charities. In 2025, 51% of grant dollars went to recipients in Illinois, 41% to recipients in Missouri, and 8% to recipients in New York.
Grant Distribution by State
Share of 2025 grant dollars across all 20 itemized grants.
Cities
Is McCortney Foundation open to new grantees?
15%
first-time grantees, 2025
In 2025, 3 of 20 grantees (15%) were first-time recipients. With only 20 grantees, that is a small sample: one grantee more or less moves the share by about 5 points. First grants averaged $5K; repeat grants $7K. How we count
Medians: $5K first-time, $5K repeat.
- 85% of 2025 grantees were also funded in 2024. Method
- Giving grew 81% from 2022 to 2025. Method
- In 2025 it paid out 105% of its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method
Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990-PF filings (2020–2025). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.
Giving History
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2020 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $70K (2021) to $130K (2025). In 2025 it made 20 grants totaling $130K.
Grants by year
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Our Lady of Tepeyac High School Chicago, IL | General | $12,000 |
| Doctors Without Borders New York, NY | General | $11,000 |
| Greater Chicago Food Depository Chicago, IL | General | $10,000 |
| The Food Bank of Central and Ne MO Columbia, MO | General | $10,000 |
| The Night Ministry Chicago, IL | General | $8,000 |
| True North of Columbia Inc Columbia, MO | General | $7,000 |
| CASA Central Chicago, IL | General | $6,000 |
| Heart of Missouri - CASA Columbia, MO | General | $6,000 |
| Art Helps Heal Palatine, IL | General | $5,000 |
| Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture Columbia, MO | General | $5,000 |
Ready to take the next step with McCortney Foundation?
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
| Filing year | Total Assets | Revenue | Expenses | Grants paid | Grants | Qualifying Distributions | Net Investment Income | Distributable Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $792,123 | $80,792 | $131,610 | $130,000 | 20 | $130,000 | $80,792 | $123,428 |
| 2024 | $842,941 | $59,370 | $92,675 | $90,000 | 17 | $90,000 | $59,370 | $92,807 |
| 2023 | $876,246 | $80,349 | $72,985 | $72,000 | 17 | $72,000 | $79,710 | $66,155 |
| 2022 | $868,882 | $40,529 | $72,918 | $72,000 | 17 | $72,000 | $40,604 | $70,429 |
| 2021 | $901,271 | $80,759 | $74,354 | $69,500 | 16 | $69,500 | $80,087 | $77,946 |
| 2020 | $894,866 | $167,633 | $86,285 | $84,500 | 21 | — | $163,593 | $69,599 |
Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, McCortney Foundation reported a distributable amount of $123K for 2025 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.
Research compiled by Grantable AI from public sources. Last updated September 2026.
Mission & Focus Areas
No foundation mission statement is provided. The 2025 grants show support for organizations with varied missions. For example, the Greater Chicago Food Depository describes its mission as ending hunger, and The Night Ministry says it provides human connection, housing support, and health care to people who are unhoused or experiencing poverty. True North of Columbia says it supports people affected by intimate domestic and sexual violence, stalking, and sex trafficking; Heart of Missouri CASA describes its work as volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children.
Other 2025 recipients describe work in autism services (Have Dreams), connecting people with agriculture through hands-on learning (Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture), providing families with essentials for children’s first years (Share our Spare), and assisting refugees and immigrants with employment, education, language, housing, transportation, and transitional living (City of Refuge).
Grantmaking
In 2025, the foundation gave 20 grants totaling $130,000. Grants ranged from $5,000 to $12,000, with a median of $5,000. Among the largest awards were $12,000 to Our Lady of Tepeyac High School, $11,000 to Doctors Without Borders, $10,000 each to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and The Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri, and $8,000 to The Night Ministry. The filing lists the purposes of these grants as general.
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
The 2025 filing lists John J McCortney as president and director, Lynette McCortney as secretary/treasurer, and M Cortney Daniels as director.
McCortney Foundation is led by John J. McCortney, President & Director on every filing since 2020; none of the 3 officers listed in 2025 report compensation.
Officers on the 2025 filing
John J. McCortney
President & Director
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
M. Cortney Daniels
Director
On filings since 2020
1 hr/week
No compensation reported
Lynette McCortney
Secretary & Treasurer
Secretary-Treasurer & Director → Secretary, 2022
Secretary → Secretary & Treasurer, 2023
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Former officers (1)
- Former: McOrtney Daniels (2022) — Director
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2020–2025. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Frequently asked questions about McCortney Foundation
How much does McCortney Foundation give each year?
McCortney Foundation gave $130K across 20 grants in 2025, according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. In 2024 it gave $90K across 17 grants.
What is McCortney Foundation's typical grant size?
McCortney Foundation's median grant in 2025 was $5,000, and its average grant was $6,500, across 20 grants on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Organizations receiving their first grant from McCortney Foundation that year got $5K on average.
Where does McCortney Foundation give grants?
McCortney Foundation gives mostly in Illinois: 51% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF went to recipients there. The next largest states were Missouri (41%) and New York (8%). The most frequent recipient cities were Columbia, MO (8 grants) and Chicago, IL (7 grants).
Does McCortney Foundation give general operating support?
Yes: 100% of McCortney Foundation's 2025 grants with a stated purpose (20 of 20) were for general or operating support, per its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF.
Who are McCortney Foundation's largest grantees?
McCortney Foundation's largest 2025 grantees include Our Lady of Tepeyac High School ($12,000), Doctors Without Borders ($11,000) and Greater Chicago Food Depository ($10,000), according to its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. Together they received 25% of its itemized 2025 grant dollars.
How large is McCortney Foundation?
McCortney Foundation reported $792K in total assets on its 2025 IRS Form 990-PF. It paid out $130K in qualifying distributions that year, against a required minimum of $123K (roughly 5% of its investment assets).
What does McCortney Foundation fund?
No foundation mission statement is provided. The 2025 grants show support for organizations with varied missions. See mission & focus areas ↑
How do I apply for a grant from McCortney Foundation?
The foundation’s filing says it does not restrict giving to preselected organizations. Eligibility and process details are in the grantmaking section of this profile. See how to apply ↑
What is McCortney Foundation's EIN?
McCortney Foundation's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 36-6115950. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2020–2025.
Data last updated October 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.
Data update history
(7)
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2020 (received by the IRS June 14, 2021)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2021 (received by the IRS May 20, 2022)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2022 (received by the IRS June 5, 2023)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2023 (received by the IRS May 28, 2024)
- Updated Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2024 (received by the IRS May 12, 2025)
- Added Form 990-PF for fiscal year 2025 (received by the IRS May 8, 2026)
- IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2020–2024
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Cite this profile
Grantable. (2026). McCortney Foundation funder profile. GrantGraph. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://grantable.co/funders/mccortney-foundation-morg_640b1986d0b64900998603199529e97c
BibTeX
@misc{grantable_366115950_2026,
author = {{Grantable}},
title = {{McCortney Foundation funder profile}},
howpublished = {GrantGraph},
year = {2026},
url = {https://grantable.co/funders/mccortney-foundation-morg_640b1986d0b64900998603199529e97c},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-14. Data licensed CC BY 4.0}
}The figures on this page are open data under CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to Grantable and a link. Download the data.
Figures come from McCortney Foundation's IRS filings (methodology). AI-written summaries, news items and logos are not covered by the open licence. Spot an error? Email hello@grantable.co.
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