A Quick Update on the Mansueto Foundation's Chicago Philanthropy

Editor's note: This article was revised and updated on 5/28/2021.

Joe and Rika Mansueto were the first family in Chicago to sign the Giving Pledge, and they have been steadily ramping up their giving in recent years. The Morningstar CEO and his wife established the Mansueto Foundation in 2009, and the end of a recent year, the foundation held over $25 million in assets and gave away over $5 million in grants and contributions. In contrast, the foundation had just over $5 million in assets and gave away less than a million dollars just six years earlier.

The foundation does not have its own dedicated website, but it does have a page on the Mansueto Office website that describes the basics of foundation grantmaking. We had been waiting for a few years for Mansueto giving to increase, so now is the time to start getting to know this funder. Here are three key things to know.

1. Education is the Largest Interest

One of the largest gift in the couple's philanthropic history was a $25 million donation to their mutual alma mater, the University of Chicago, which led to the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library. Over the years, the couple has also given modestly to the University of Illinois. The connection here might be Mansueto's father, an Italian immigrant of humble background who ended up attending University of Illinois College of Medicine before a long career in medicine.

On the K-12 front, the couple has awarded sizable grants to Teach for America over multiple years. In interviews, Mansueto has been complimentary of the outfit, which draws support from billionaires like him. As well, the Mansuetos have given to the Chicago Public Education Fund. Smaller sums have gone to Ounce of Prevention Fund, a leading children's antipoverty organization, and Junior Achievement - Chicago. Charter schools are of a particular interest to the couple.

2. Health and Community Are Also Mansueto Interests

Aside from education, health and community are the next two most-funded causes for the Mansueto Foundation. Major local hospitals and urban policy decision-making efforts are among Manuseto grantees.

Additionally, creative institutions sometimes receive Mansueto grants. In the past Mansueto has said that he wasn't particularly interested in accumulating a lot of board memberships, but he does sit on the board of the Art Institute of Chicago, which has received modest funding. Organization’s near the family home in Lincoln Park, such as the Lincoln Park Zoological Society and Lincoln Park Zoo, have seen foundation support.

3. Still No Clear Path to Apply for Grants

But even while we know a bit more about the Mansueto Foundation than we did just a couple years ago, the process for securing funding still remains somewhat of a mystery. The foundation does not provide a clear way to get in touch with grantseeking questions or make its funding procedures and guidelines publicly known. According to recent tax records, the foundation does not accept unsolicited grant applications.