About Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls
The Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls directs its limited but sizable giving toward education initiatives in Chicago, splitting funding evenly between K–12 public school supports and community college/higher education access. Grants are large, targeted gifts to local institutional partners that advance student success and educational opportunity within the city rather than broad national philanthropy. While the foundation's name suggests an interest in women and girls, the observable pattern emphasizes institution-level educational impact in Chicago.
Focus Areas
Chicago community college student access and success (City Colleges of Chicago)Chicago Public Schools K–12 program support and student services (Children's First Fund / CPS Foundation)Local educational equity and opportunity initiatives serving underserved Chicago students
Giving Approach
Concentrated, high-dollar local grants: very few (two) equal-sized awards focused on major Chicago education institutions rather than many small or national grants.
Funding Style
unrestricted general operating supportcore operating supportnon-program-specific funding
About Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls
Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls gives consistently sized grants to Chicago education and student-support organizations, with $25,000 as the standard award and two $50,000 gifts in the recent record. The clearest pattern is institutional support for access and success inside the city’s public-school and postsecondary systems. In 2024, City Colleges of Chicago Foundation received $50,000 for general support, matching a 2023 $50,000 general-support grant to The Children's First Fund the Chicago Public Schools Foundation. Those two recipients frame the foundation’s education-centered approach: support for community college pathways on one side, and K–12 public-school support on the other. The rest of the grant list reinforces that pattern through repeated general-support awards to Chicago-based groups working in student services, enrichment, youth development, and opportunity-building. Chicago Foundation for Women, Youth Guidance, Hope Chicago, and The Gray Matter Experience all appear in the recent grants record, showing that the foundation’s giving reaches beyond a single institution while remaining tightly focused on Chicago. The observed pattern is local, recurring, and organization-centered rather than program-specific.
What Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls Funds
Education access is the strongest visible theme. City Colleges of Chicago Foundation received $50,000 for general support in 2024, indicating support for community college access and student success. At the K–12 level, The Children's First Fund the Chicago Public Schools Foundation also received a $50,000 general-support grant in 2023, and a separate $25,000 gift in 2024. The foundation also backs organizations that support girls and women, including Chicago Foundation for Women and YWCA, each appearing in the recent grants list with general-support awards. Youth development shows up through Youth Guidance, Focus Fairies Mentoring, Ladies of Virtue, and Mean Girls Empowerment, all funded in Chicago. STEM and enrichment are also present through Illinois Science and Technology Institute, Project Syncere, Project Exploration, Chicago Innovation Foundation, and the Chicago Architecture Center, reflecting a broad but still locally bounded set of educational and developmental priorities.
How Bolhous Foundation for Women & Girls Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$150K
Total Assets
$198K
Total Revenue
$357K
Total Expenses
$440K
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $25K and $25K, with a median of $25K.
25th Percentile
$25K
Median
$25K
75th Percentile
$25K
Geographic Reach
Local1 state funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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